We could say that quantum physics has opened the doors to a world as mysterious as it is magical. A world so intriguing that inspires innumerable researchers to delve into its complexity. In this context and through this post I would like to explain in detail what is and what is quantum teleportation.

Teleportation exists. There are scientists carrying out experiments on it all the time. What happens is that it does not exist as we see it in the movies.

Quantum teleportation basically involves decoding the object, and that consequently leads to destroying it or altering it. It is important because it prevents the concept of copy. In other words, quantum teleportation destroys the nature of the initial object and copies it elsewhere as many times as we want. However, although this sounds or seems perfect, it is not possible to make infinite copies.

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Science has not yet found a way to teleport objects, let alone living beings. For this, if it is possible one day, many years of research are still missing. What quantum teleportation moves from one side to another are quantum states of particles like electrons or photons. For this, it uses a property called quantum entanglement.

So what is quantum entanglement?

In 1935 a furious Albert Einstein, together with his colleagues Podolsky and Rosen, exhibited the so-called "EPR paradox", by his initials. This one wanted to be used as an example to say that quantum mechanics was incomplete and failed "theory". I needed a thorough revision. And because? Because, according to Einstein himself, this set of hypotheses violated the universe as we know it. Therefore, it had to be wrong at some point. However, what Einstein did not know is that the presented paradox is actually a real manifestation of what happens in nature. Indeed, we have been able to demonstrate a disturbing and extraordinary phenomenon that allows two particles separated by a distance to be able to "communicate" without there being anything, no transmission channel, between the two. To this strange phenomenon, which completely breaks our way of understanding the world, we call it quantum entanglement.

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It was the time that proved that quantum entanglement is no longer a property that does not have an equivalent in classical mechanics, that which describes how things collapse or how hard they hit. The quantum entanglement explains how a cluster of particles (which can be only 2) intertwined are fused in their existence so that although there are thousands of light years between them the change of state of one of them affects the rest immediately (and faster than light, therefore).

How does teleportation work then?

It works by adding a completely new particle and forcing it to interlock with one of the two particles that were already intertwined with each other. The difficult part is that for this entanglement to be fruitful we can not observe the state of the particle, which forces us to work through complex calculations with which to find out if the entanglement has been successful or not.

If so, what has happened is that the state of the particle that we have intertwined with one of the intertwined particles previously has become the state of an identical particle on the other side. For this, by the way, some raw material is needed. You do not create a particle from anything. As for the original, the calculations that we have made have reduced it to its minimum information units. It has been destroyed.

How would it be to apply this to a person then?

If we applied this to humans, we would have the person destroyed on one side and reconstructed from genetic material on the other. Is the same person? It is impossible to know, but without a doubt and under my opinion it would never be the same person.

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The whole is more than the sum of its parts in the same way that a person who is in a deep coma for decades will never be the same when waking, never...

I also think that philosophically speaking, a teleported person would not be the same person either, but the important thing would be in practice. We have to consider that our own bodies do not have "continuity" over time either because after a year we replace about 98% of our atoms. Practically, we are a new person every year.

References.

• https://www.nature.com/news/quantum-teleportation-is-even-weirder-than-you-think-1.22321
• https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a25699/how-quantum-teleportation-works/
• Quantum Teleportation Is Real, Here's How It Works - Youtube video
• https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/quantum_entanglement.htm
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/06/15/quantum-entanglement-sciences-spookiest-phenomenon-achieved-in-space/?utm_term=.d5338e4028b0