Researchers Use Quantum ‘Telepathy’ to Win an ‘Impossible’ Game
Researchers Use Quantum ‘Telepathy’ to Win an ‘Impossible’ Game
Researchers Use Quantum ‘Telepathy’ to Win an ‘Impossible’ Game
By Philip Ball
October 25, 2022
Summary
To win at the card game of bridge, which is played between two sets of partners, one player must somehow signal to their teammate the strength of the hand they hold.
For decades physicists have suspected that if bridge were played using cards governed by the rules of quantum mechanics, something that looks uncannily like telepathy should be possible.
Now researchers in China have experimentally demonstrated this so-called quantum pseudo telepathy-not in quantum bridge but in a two-player quantum competition called the Mermin-Peres magic square game, where winning requires that the players coordinate their actions without exchanging information with each other.
Used judiciously, quantum pseudo telepathy allows the players to win each and every round of the game-a flawless performance that would otherwise be impossible.
The experiment, conducted using laser photons, probes the limits of what quantum mechanics permits in allowing information to be shared between particles.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S) Philip Ball is a science writer and former Nature editor based in London.
Reference
Ball, P. (2022, October 25). Researchers use quantum 'telepathy' to win an 'impossible' game. Retrieved November 4, 2022, from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/researchers-use-quantum-telepathy-to-win-an-impossible-game/