If a photon carries too little energy, it does not fit inside a proton (left). A photon with sufficiently high energy is so small that it flies into the interior of a proton, where it 'sees' part of the proton (right). Maximum entanglement then becomes visible between the 'seen' and 'unseen' areas. Credit: IFJ PAN
Fragments of the interior of a proton have been shown by scientists from Mexico and Poland to exhibit maximum quantum entanglement. The discovery, already confronted with experimental data, allows us to suppose that in some respects the physics of the inside of a proton may have much in common not only with well-known thermodynamic phenomena, but even with the physics of... black holes.
Various fragments of the inside of a proton must be maximally entangled with each other, otherwise theoretical predictions would not agree with the data collected in experiments, it was shown in European Physical Journal C.
The theoretical model (which extends the original proposal by physicists Dimitri Kharzeev and Eugene Levin) makes it possible to suppose that, contrary to current belief, the physics operating inside protons may be related to such concepts as entropy or temperature, which in turn may relate it to such exotic objects as black holes.
The authors of the discovery are Dr. Martin Hentschinski from the Universidad de las Americas Puebla in Mexico and Dr. Krzysztof Kutak from the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IFJ PAN) in Cracow, Poland.
The Mexican-Polish theorists analyzed the situation in which electrons are fired at protons. When an incoming electron carrying a negative electric charge approaches a positively charged proton, it interacts with it electromagnetically and deflects its path.
The Mexican-Polish theorists analyzed the situation in which electrons are fired at protons. When an incoming electron carrying a negative electric charge approaches a positively charged proton, it interacts with it electromagnetically and deflects its path.
Electromagnetic interaction means that a photon has been exchanged between the electron and the proton. The stronger the interaction, the greater the change in momentum of the photon and therefore the shorter the associated electromagnetic wave. READ MORE...
