Book Reviewed: Spooky Action at a Distance, by George Musser

The enigma of quantum reality

The laws of quantum physics allow for two distant quantum objects (photons, electrons, quarks, etc.) to be entangled so that an action on one particle instantly affects the other, even if the two particles are separated by several billion light years. Einstein dismissed this as "spooky action at a distance", insisting that some hidden variables could be responsible for this action. He argued that physics is not magic but operates on the principle of local realism. Hence only nearby objects are influenced by each other like sun and the planets, as we understand from the equations of classical physics. However, Einstein has been proved wrong on numerous occasions in experimental quantum physics. Even black holes and the workings of gravity (curved spacetime in presence of matter) are manifestations of quantum entanglement at cosmic scales. The very nature of spacetime are questioned since it is no longer considered as an inert fabric of physical reality. In fact many physicists think that space is not continuous but exists in discrete quanta (tiny chunks) like matter, and spacetime could curve, rip, tear and repair and it can travel across the universe as waves (gravitational waves) at the speed of light. The physical reality is not simple at most fundamental level. Time becomes folded up with space into a malleable four-dimensional spacetime, and its passage depends on how fast you are moving, or the strength of the surrounding gravitational field. Yet of the four dimensions of space and time, time remains somehow special. If we know what's happening on a spot in Mars, then we can predict what will happen in that same space at a future time. But we cannot predict what is happening at a different spot at the same time. Quantum physics, reinforces this “special” view of time, but produces a picture at odds with relativity. Here, there is an objective "God's Eye" time that allows you to see all events encapsulated in spacetime, including the past and future, from outside the capsule. But while all quantum-mechanical things can be calculated about reality depend on experimental observations. Time itself is an unobservable parameter, so it cannot be calculated. It can't even be reliably measured: the principle of quantum uncertainty makes it impossible to distinguish the order of two events that are very close in time. "It gets harder to prevent effect preceding cause, because of “quantum fuzziness” of spacetime at quantum scales.

In this book, author George Musser discusses the nature of nonlocality, the “spooky action at a distance” from the point of physicists and cosmologists at the frontiers of current research. He discusses the nature of spacetime and the quantum reality. The universe is even more complicated if one is faced with the fact that only a small fraction of the universe is visible. The universe consists of 68% dark energy, 27% dark matter, 2.5% invisible matter and 2.5% visible matter. Laws of physics applies only to the 5% of the universe. The nature of dark matter and dark energy is currently unknown and also we don’t know how it interact with each other. Do they have energy, mass, frequency equations as we have for normal matter? And how do dark matter and dark energy interact with normal matter/energy? Constraints of special theory of relativity requires that nothing moves faster than light, including gravity, forces, information, matter or energy. And spacetime warp to accommodate speed of light. But space could expand faster than light. Moving clock tick (time) slower and moving ruler (space) appear shorter and hence there is no objective measure of space and time. Space and time look different for different observers in the universe. Motion warps spacetime and so does acceleration and gravity according to the equivalence principle of general relativity.

Physicists Juan Maldacena and Leonard Susskind redefine spacetime that is at the core of quantum reality. According to their conjecture, ER = EPR is that every pair of entangled particles (quantum physical phenomenon) is connected by a microscopic spacetime wormhole (relativistic phenomenon) so that large regions of spacetime emerge from the entanglement of more fundamental microscopic constituents of the universe. It also suggests that entangled objects, despite having long been viewed as having no physical connection to one another may indeed be connected in ways that are far less fantastical than we thought.

Some physicists working on black hole physics have suggested that we live in a holographic universe, which means the physical reality that makes up the 3-dimesional space (and time) is in fact stored on a 2-dimensional flat surface. This means everything we see and experience is an illusion. SpaceX founder Elon Musk, goes one-step further to say that we don’t actually exist physically, but we are a bunch of information (data) swirling around on someone's (?Gods) supercomputer. Musk is immersed in a technological world, and he is not too far off from the point of artificial intelligence (AI) and the world of super-computation. Despite the fact that this idea sounds extreme but theories about the universe being an illusion aren't new.

In spite of all calculations, conjectures and interpretations of experimental data, we could be looking at small section of one whole reality. We need a revolutionary like Einstein to rediscover the quantum nature of spacetime and gravity. In this book, the author does not offer a useful discussion of nonlocality, and in some pages he appears to be rambling.