PHYSICS
First-ever observation of ‘spooky action’ between quarks
WORDS BEN TURNER
Physicists at the world’s largest atom smasher have observed two quarks in a state of quantum entanglement for the first time. The observation, made at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), near Geneva, revealed a top quark, the heaviest fundamental particle, quantumly linked to its antimatter counterpart in the highest energy detection of entanglement ever made. The A Toroidal LHC Apparatus (ATLAS) experiment is the largest detector at the LHC, and picks out the tiny subatomic particles created after beams of particles crash into each other at near light speed. “While particle physics is rooted in quantum mechanics, the observation of quantum entanglement in a new particle system and at much higher energy is remarkable,” said Andreas Hoecker, a spokesperson for the ATLAS experiment. “It paves the way for new investigations into this fascinating phenomenon, opening up a rich menu of exploration as our data samples continue to grow.”