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Physics

The odds of quantum weirdness being real just got a lot higher

An experiment to test distant particles’ ability to correlate their behaviour is one of the strongest pieces of evidence that classical ideas about reality are incorrect

By Karmela Padavic-Callaghan

16 August 2024

An experiment with beams of photons has confirmed quantum weirdness exists

luchschenF/Shutterstock

The world is as weird as we feared. A new experiment confirms yet again the existence of correlations between distant entangled quantum particles – and this time we have measured the phenomenon so precisely, there is only a minuscule chance it is a fluke.

This is sometimes called “spooky action at a distance”, a phrase used by Albert Einstein in the 1930s when he protested the possibility of two entangled particles exhibiting correlated behaviours across extreme distances,…

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