From: mk_thisisit
Teleportation is an artificial process that does not occur naturally [00:07:06]. In the context of physics, it involves the transfer of information or “soul,” not matter itself [00:02:23], [00:08:12]. As physicist Den Greenberger reportedly stated, “teleportation is not transferred matter, only the soul is transferred” [00:08:15]. This means that for teleportation to occur, an object must already be present at the target location, ready to have its state transformed [00:08:27], [00:12:13].
Limitations of Macroscopic Teleportation
While teleportation has been achieved with elementary particles, such as the polarization of a single photon [00:08:04], extending this to larger objects like a human being is considered “beyond the possibilities of the universe” [00:07:50]. The fundamental challenges lie in the nature of quantum mechanics and the resources required for such a process.
Complexity of States
For a single photon, there are only four possible Bell states, and its polarization has two dimensions, meaning only two different results can be obtained during measurement [00:10:17], [00:10:32], [00:10:41]. This relative simplicity allows for quantum teleportation experiments.
However, as an object’s complexity increases, the number of possible states expands exponentially. For a glass made up of conventionally 10^25 to 10^26 atoms, the number of Bell states that would need to be “caught in a controlled way” would be the square of that immense number [00:11:00], [00:11:13], [00:11:40]. This makes performing the necessary Bell measurement for large objects practically impossible [00:12:03].
The Case of an Atom
Even for a single hydrogen atom, which is the simplest atom, there are infinitely many possible energy states for its electron [00:31:26]. Teleporting such an atom in any arbitrary state would necessitate a measurement of infinitely many Bell states, which is mathematically impossible [00:31:45], [00:31:54].
While it’s possible to entangle atoms in specific, prepared states (e.g., only two significant states for a particular atom), this is not true teleportation of an arbitrary state [00:33:18], [00:33:56]. Such experiments, while difficult, involve preparing an atom in a chosen superposition of states, which is analogous to the two distinguishable polarization states of a photon [00:34:00], [00:34:09].
Comparison to Other Impossibilities
The impossibility of teleporting macroscopic objects is likened to the impossibility of faster-than-light travel [00:34:37], [00:34:41]. While the latter is a strict law of nature in physics, the former is a “weaker” impossibility due to the immense resources of the universe that would be required to perform the necessary experiment [00:34:46], [00:35:02]. Therefore, the statement that “never teleport an object” is true in the sense that one can only teleport its state, requiring a pre-existing object to receive that state [00:35:08], [00:35:16].
Experimental Context
The concept of quantum teleportation is intrinsically linked to quantum mechanics and the behavior of particles in the microworld [00:05:58]. The act of observation in the microworld significantly changes information about the observed object, unlike in the macroscopic world [00:03:30], [00:03:39], [00:05:31]. This fundamental difference is key to understanding quantum phenomena, including teleportation.
Pioneering experiments on quantum information and entanglement, including those that involved teleportation, were recognized by the Nobel Prize [00:21:29], [00:21:50], [00:21:55]. These breakthroughs involved forcing interference between independently emitted photons by controlling the time resolution of detection below the coherence time [00:22:54], [00:23:03]. This allowed for the exchange of entanglement, a crucial step in quantum information theory [00:23:19].