entanglement

Physicist needs $20,000 for time-travel experiment

Without funding, lab space will be lost

By TOM PAULSON
P-I REPORTER

The Seattle scientist who wants to test a controversial prediction from quantum theory that says light particles can go backward in time is, himself, running out of time.

· See our original report on John Cramer's project.

It's not a wormhole or warp in the space-time continuum. The problem is more mundane -- a black hole in the time-and-money continuum spawned by today's increasingly risk-averse, "performance-based" approach to funding research.

"I guess you could say we're now living on borrowed time," wryly joked John Cramer, a physicist at the University of Washington. "All we need to keep going is maybe $20,000, but nobody seems that interested in funding this project."

It's a project that aims to do a conceptually simple bench-top test for evidence of something Albert Einstein called "spooky action at a distance." The test involves using a crystal to split a photon, a light particle, into two reduced-energy photons that -- through careful manipulation -- Cramer thinks could reveal a flash of time traveling backward.

		Scott Eklund / P-I
	University of Washington physicist John Cramer is preparing to perform an experiment to see if time can go backwards.

The UW physicist has applied for funds from the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Both agencies have, in the past, funded far-fetched ideas and, on occasion, had big hits -- such as the Internet.

DARPA recently sent out requests for proposals from researchers interested in developing shape-shifting, liquid robots (think Terminator 2) as well as cyborg insects (half robot, half normal bug). NIAC has funded similar projects and first took seriously science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke's idea of a geosynchronous elevator into space.

"I've heard that NASA is closing down NIAC so I don't expect to get any funding from them," Cramer said. "And the guy from DARPA decided what I was trying to do was too weird even for DARPA."

The military research establishment thinks testing a fundamental paradox in physics is weirder than seeking to build a sci-fi robot they saw in an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie?

Still, it is fair to say Cramer, an experimentalist with plenty of scientific "street cred" from his stints at mainstream places such as the Brookhaven National Laboratory and Geneva-based CERN (the world's largest particle physics lab), has gone out on a theoretical limb lately.

To begin with, he thinks the celebrated theoretical physicist and author of "A Brief History of Time," Stephen Hawking (who happens to speaking tonight at the Seattle Center's McCaw Hall), is wrong. Not about everything. Just time.

"Hawking has this 'arrow of time' idea in which he argues that time can only advance in one direction, forward," Cramer said. It's appealing, elegant and certainly makes sense intuitively, he noted, because this is the only way we experience time.

Unfortunately, the one-way notion of time doesn't fit all that well with the mathematical and experimental evidence of quantum theory. This is a highly counter-intuitive branch of physics, also known as quantum mechanics, that describes the bizarre behavior of matter at the atomic and subatomic levels.

One of the mysteries of quantum mechanics is the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox. Quantum theory predicts two subatomic particles derived from a single particle -- like two photons split from a single photon -- will, if not further influenced by other particles, continue to influence each other's behavior no matter how far apart.

This is known as "entanglement." Experiments at the subatomic level tend to support the idea, but there's a conceptual problem. It means the two photons must be able to communicate instantaneously, even if light years apart, which violates the speed of light.

"There's been a lot of interest in this problem over the years," Cramer said. In 1986, he proposed a solution to this paradox that he called the "transactional interpretation" of quantum theory. Some of his approach was based on the ideas of such physics luminaries as Richard Feynman and John Wheeler.

Basically, Cramer showed how entanglement could be explained -- and how the paradox could be explained away -- by assuming some kind of signal that can travel both forward and backward in time between the two photons. His theory, he says, violates no rules of quantum theory and resolves the mystery.

All that's needed now, Cramer said, is some way to provide evidence that it's real.

In the basement of the UW's Astronomy and Physics building, the UW physicist and his student, Skander Mzali, are making do with what they can find in the lab. At the business end of an ultraviolet laser is an array of prisms, filters, splitters and other devices aimed at directing or altering the laser light.

A camera hooked up to a computer monitor sits at the receiving end. On the PC monitor is a grainy screen displaying an interference pattern of photons.

What Cramer hopes to be able to do is split a photon, sending two "entangled" photons down two very different pathways of varying lengths using fiber-optic cables. Photons can exist in either particle or wave forms. The outcome can be manipulated by placement of detectors.

Because the photons are entangled, however one is detected (i.e., whether as a particle or a wave) also will determine the form taken by the other. But by running one photon through a 10-kilometer spool of optic cable, the second photon will be delayed 50 microseconds.

In short, moving the location of the detector for the delayed photon to change it from wave to particle would also change the first photon -- according to standard quantum theory. For this to happen, some kind of signal has to go backward in time.

"In 20 years, nobody has been able to tell me why this can't work," Cramer said. "They just say it can't work like that. It's unacceptable."

To really see if they can pull this off, the UW physicist said, he would rather not have to depend upon what kind of scraps they can cobble together. Cramer said they first need a more precise crystal prism and a more sensitive camera.

So, time, if not proven yet to sometimes run backward, is running out on the UW experiment seeking evidence of "quantum retrocausality." They will lose the lab space soon if they can't move forward with the project, Cramer said.

"We're about to hit the wall if we don't get funding," he said. "It would be a shame because even if this doesn't work, I'm sure we'd learn something from trying."

P-I reporter Tom Paulson can be reached at 206-448-8318 or tompaulson@seattlepi.com.

EXPANSION

With All the new initiates @11, the bar seemed full again minus a few dozen Bobs, Treeder and certainly Numlock.

The Establishment barked, “Numlock? Where the hell is Numlock? Has anyone seen Numlock?”

As usual no one responded.

In fact, the bar reeked of some weird nouveau aura. I don’t know perhaps, it’s the lingering smell of the fire mixed in with the bar’s normal aroma of urine, booze and blasting.

We were all milling about when Turin, standing up on a table, abruptly ask everyone at the bar “why the world was sad”.

The usual suspects @11 were all are used to this crap and had certainly become numb to Turin’s antics but unfortunately for the initiates this was their first experience with Turin and his strongly held epicurean views. Some of the more young and eager temporal beavers must have interpreted his question as non rhetorical. Whoops.

It was Thana.sys, new friend who, I was told, had notions of grandeur. He walked up to me and said “I’m out” and without fanfare left the bar.

Moments later in the corner of my eye I watched Ericka slink away as well.

Shetal and I sipped our drinks and discussed the Hindus and Hindon’ts of the world. She ask about the fire damage in the back room and I preceded to tell her the long story of Rebus the monkey clone and the mystic finger of Robert Skyfox, last of the Hopi shaman.

Odd is odd, and when Koshi enters the bar everything just seemed to go haywire. Just when I thought we had enough problems, all of the Coqnoir gear started sparking and flickering. Koshi did not bat an eye. He just grinned strangely and sipped his drink. The real problem was that I couldn’t remember if it was supposed to do that. Nailgun ran up and started plugging cables into holes and more cables into other holes and then the lights stopped. The whole room dimmed. What had been the most orderly part of the room, the stage, now looked as if a giant octopus robot had exploded all over the stage. Thana.sys walks up to Nailgun and gives a strange glance to Koshi and then he precedes to plug more cables in to even more holes. So little time and so many holes……

we all make mistakes

Jim Sparks, Debt Consultant, Las Vegas, Nevada: “Time in their eyes is quite a bit different. If you are a time traveler, so to speak, it’s no big deal to you. It’s just another technological apparatus. You can go from Point A in time to Point B in time whenever you want, almost as simple as using a TV remote control.

In fact, from what I can see and experience with these beings, it’s almost mundane and boring to them. It’s not even exciting to travel time. It‘s just something that they do. Since we’re stuck in it, time is extremely relevant to us.

WHEN YOU SAY FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE THE NON-HUMANS ARE EVEN BORED BY THE IDEA OF TIME TRAVEL, COULD YOU SHARE YOUR OWN PERSONAL EXPERIENCE ABOUT HOW YOU EVEN LEARNED THAT?

I think by a mistake. There was one experience I just can’t get over. I know it will stick with me the rest of my life, regarding time travel. Before the mistake, I should share the fact that whenever I was ‘abducted’ – I still haven’t found the perfect word for that experience yet. I like to use the word 'pulled' because of the sensation. In the alien world, we would do certain tasks that would end and another task began. When the non-humans determined it was time to end, or for me to go back, a week could have gone by, a month could have gone by. Then no matter how long I had been gone, I would find myself exactly where I left off, as though I had never left, and as if the aliens had never pulled me.

When I say a mistake, I had an experience – and bare in mind that 90% of them are conscious recall right in your face – where I was at home and got pulled in the late afternoon or early evening. I was watching television. I was on the sofa. My hand was on my head and my elbow was on the sofa. I was lying sideways watching TV.

I had gotten up and walked over to get something to eat and drink to snack on from the refrigerator. So, I had to walk by an island in the kitchen and make a sharp right turn to get into the kitchen to get into the refrigerator. I got up from the sofa, walked across the living room. I have an aquarium, so I looked at my fish for a few seconds. Then I opened up the refrigerator door, grabbed a soda, drank it. Got something to eat. Shut the door and walked back around the aquarium in the living room and back to the sofa. And then I got pulled. I was not expecting it.

I had a two-hour experience. This was the first time manipulation where it was firsthand in my face and it just astounded me. Because what happened was: I had gone through the abduction experience for the two-hour period. When I came back, I came back approximately a minute or two minutes before I originally left, meaning that I found myself back on the sofa. But like I was in two places at once, I could see myself get up from the sofa, walk around the aquarium like I did earlier and into the kitchen. I just sat there with my mouth shut in shock and didn’t make a sound. I could hear my footsteps. I could hear myself going into the kitchen. This other me watched from the sofa and heard the refrigerator door open, saw a light go on in the refrigerator, heard the sounds of me drinking the soda. I heard and saw the whole scene! Then I watched myself come back from the kitchen. This is not an out of body experience because let me set a foundation here.

All this stuff is technology. I’ve stuck to the logic of technology. I am not letting myself drift to the left or right on that issue. When I saw myself walking back to the sofa, I just said, ‘Well, here comes me and what is ‘me’ going to do when it sees me now?’ But that ‘me’ did not even see me and as it got closer, it started fading and disappeared.

So, I saw something in solid real life - myself - back a minute or two before I left!

Rendezvous

"The pyramid exemplifies the initiation stage,... it is the house of initiation, in which the candidate confronts the world of darkness and enters the world of spirit. By passing the tests of the elements, the candidate is initiated into the realm of higher consciousness." (Heironimus ibid., p.92)

The bar seemed empty and alone. No Numlock, no Treeder, or Skyfox to dance the perpetual banter of conflict, worry, or politics. There were no illuminati in the lot only her. Ericka , was taking full advantage of the cosmic lull. Pushing, pressing and pleading the establishment to give Pussyleblanc their big shot at eternal fame and forever to be rid of Coqnoir and their groupy set. If she was clever enough, she might indeed achieve her ultimate objective, to bring Coqnoir to its knees once and for all.

Time heals all wounds but is itself an unconcerned lover, as indifferent and detached as a husband held captive in the 10^th week of the Pro football season. Having been secretly invited to a meeting of the investors, I found myself somewhere in northern Greece. This small village would be the setting of my awaking. Unknown to the patrons @11 who believed that the Establishment was both alpha and omega, my intention was to retrieve the initiate. No one, not even me, gleaned the importance of my mission. Even now I struggle to understand its murky meaning. I was deeply immersed in finding the one whose world would soon transform as they were made into the newest patron @11. It’s all upside down I thought as I came to understand my journey was more rooted in finding my own feet. One’s feet, apparently, are the most impossible to see when attention is focused only towards all the other pairs in the room. The investors knew this fact too well.

I spent my day with old friend and new friend. Surrounded by potential and drowning in possibility I was paralyzed in the head lights of decision. Too many choices to choose from, I was stuck in the cereal isle of life’s grocery store. I'd had every intention to invite old friend into the circle @11 but new friend shined so bright. Completely at a loss, I stood by the sea hoping to clear my thoughts like the crystal waters before me, to see so clearly the bottom of my subconscious like I could the sea floor before me.

The feeling that a presence was observing me hit me in a wave of goose bumps. I looked behind me and there was a couple holding hands and staring right at me; they were the investors and I knew it right away.

“hello, I suppose you have some answers for me” I said.

“nope just questions”

“fine, just give me something,…. please”

“Did you look at the ticket?”

I pulled the ticket that Numlock had handed me back @11. “Ostriches may expire with out notice?”

“the other side, zoan”

“+2 admittance @11”

I realized at that moment that the investors wanted them both, old friend and new would soon join the ranks of the initiates. When I looked up from the ticket the investors were gone. And where they had stood there was a key and a key ring with a pyramid with an eye in the center.

Initiation Part 1 (the passing of the sticks)

@11 took a turn for the bizarre… As usual it was the thing that never happens. I don’t remember exactly where I was @11, but I do remember becoming aware of a rather intentional low grade radiation pulse beginning to affect everyone in the bar from the waist down. I would describe it as warm and tingly, coupled with a mild concern. The mild concern was hard to absolutely attribute to the radiation pulse since the room was also starting to fill with smoke.

It was initiate night @11. (more on this later) The gist however, as it turned out, was that the whole thing was a massively failed promotional gag causing the senseless death of countless ostriches. The infamous +1 @11 coupon which had been concocted by the establishment and orchestrated by none other than the, mystically barbaric, (said in a sing-songy voice to the tune of the lucky charms jingle ) enigma known as Numlock.

@11 was jumping, we were blasting, Coqnoir was playing, & every nook in the place was occupied to the sheer delight of the Establishment, and most of us knew that the craziest part- the whole Treeder-Skyfox incident was nearing crescendo. The truth is that more than half of the occupants were Robert Skyfox, which was beginning to be a problem.

Turin walks in and hands Numlock his +1 coupon.

“Grug”

“Sheetle this is Numlock. Numlock, Sheetle.”

“Grug”

“Well done Mr. Numlock. You are correct; she is the poetic anarchist that I’ve been observing. You seem to be busy tonight I will allow you to return to your duties. And I’m looking quite forward to tonight’s unfolding. Have Ms. Marzel and Treeder arrived?

“Grug”

Turin walks Sheetle over to the bar, and the Establishment sets two drinks down in front of them and proceeds to mark them into the tab book.

“Rather smoky in here Barkeep?” Turin Asks in his normal non-questioning manner.

The Establishment yells across the bar, “Numlock…. Can you get the fire in the sidebar under control? I think a small group of Skyfoxes are trying to send smoke signals in here.”
Numlock slides into the sidebar room where the smoke billowed from the archway.

“Grug” (with bouncer tone) and he points to the exit.

Soon all the Skyfox clones began to follow Numlock in single file towards the exit @11. As the precession neared the door, it swung open and there stood Ms. Marzel and Treeder. Seeing the precession heading towards them, Treeder joyfully panics at the crisis and runs in the opposite direction. Meanwhile Ms. Marzel, in grand contrast, calmly saunters towards the bar. Numlock, the Indians, and some others simply caught up in the moment precede full speed into the parking lot.

In cloned unison the mass of Skyfoxes let forth a terrifying Indian battle cry which, we think, translated to “Get Treeder!”

Treeder dove into the dumpster impaling himself onto a 12 inch blade held by the thumb and three fingers of the original Robert Skyfox. Engraved onto handle of the blade was an inscription “To my one and only, Rebus, may this dagger keep us safe. your friend and owner Jack Treeder.”

One by one, all the Skyfoxes lept into the dumpster. THUD BLANG THAWK. Some of the non- Skyfoxes caught up in the mob also leaped like lemmings into the dumpster.

Slamming down the lid, Numlock pulls a lever and dumpster lets out a terrible high pitched screech causing the alarms of all Illuminatis in the parking lot to trigger simultaneously into a pulsing symphony of universal disorintation.

The dumpster phased in and out and it was done.

Meanwhile inside @11, something even stranger was happening. There was no music, no Coqnoir, the bar was near silent. Apparently the drummer for Coqnoir found himself caught up in the frenzy and had unfortunately also been annihilated in the dumpster incident.

It was at this moment that Turin and Ericka each handed Numlock the Sticks.

“Grug”

“The icing is on the wall, Numlock” Turin replied

Numlock emptied his pocket full of the @11 +1 coupons and set them down on the bar, walks up to the stage and climbs behind the drums.

“This song is dedicated to Jack Treeder, time traveler and crisis man. Give us the beat Numlock!”

“Grug, Grug, Grug, Grug!”

They played “Wars & Religion” all night.

As the Barkeep walked up to Ericka and Turin, I walked over and sat next to them. “What’s with all the dead ostriches in the parking lot? “
Ericka pointed to up side down coupons left on the bar.

They read “Ostriches may expire without notice. THE ESTABLISHMENT”

They can SING!!!

They Can Talk?

Anticipation & Bobs

“I really don’t think I’m up for killing anyone, Ericka.” Jack said.
“I know, I just wanted to see what you would say.” Ericka replied, smiling politely. “Don’t worry about it Jack. It’s all been arranged in advance.”

The machines hum, whir and whatnot.
mostly whatnot.

Meanwhile @11…

I’m sitting at the bar and ask the Barkeep “What time are (coqnoir) going on stage?”
The Bartender rolls his eyes and sets my drink on the bar in front of me.
“T.A you didn’t join the COCs did you?” asked the barkeep.
But before I could utter any sort of reply, an unusually large hand lands squarely on my shoulder. With no more than a glance, instantly I knew exactly who it was, or at least I thought I did but that certainty only lasted for a very brief moment. “Bob?”
“Greetings, T.A.”
“Bob, your hand, all five, you seem…. Well, you seem so intact. So, I guess this means that everything is right as rain again… more specifically I mean, between you, Jack and Ericka, uhh … and the primates? I guess I should stop referring to you as nine fingers?”
“Right as rain, T.A.! Of course it is, my good man, of course it is. Barkeep, please bring my man and me two of the usual and make them doubles, and a clean glass this time. Oh, by the by, have either of you seen Ms. Marzel tonight by any chance? She supposed to meet me here.”
“The nacker’s probably late again” the Bartender mutters under his breath.
It was exactly at that moment when the extremely rare “quadruple” event shift occurred. It was a moment so prized and cherished throughout the time traveler set, since most had never experienced it and for that reason it had gained an almost legendary appeal. Unfortunately non time travelers were completely incapable of assessing it’s meaning.
The “quad” happened as I sat the bar, received the double Skyfox had ordered while simultaneously begin to see double. I recall thanking Bob for the drink. I turn my head towards the door and my jaw drops as I watch Bob walk in. Another double take and I turn back to the freshly five fingered Bob who had just ordered me the double. “Hey Bob, whatever you don’t take your eyes off the Bar there may be something unusual going on in here.”
“Have you been hanging around Treeder again? What’s this you’re rambling on about?”
“Apparently, Bob, You just walked in the bar, again. “
I was considering leaving at that moment but as I looked around the room I began to notice in all the darkest nooks @11, there was Bob. In fact, there must be twelve or more Bobs in here. Some of them were holding conversation with the “COCs” (the cult of Coqnoir) followers who were beginning to gather with the widely spread rumor that a new set would be preformed tonight. Anticipation and Bob filled the room @11

Replacement Parts

Jack and Erika are escorted by the pack of Rebus 5s to the cloning tanks. Erika unravels the cocktail napkin containing the finger and places, the now thoroughly shriveled digit, onto an empty scanner plate.

“I still don’t understand how this is going to set things right again, Ericka.”

“Well Jack, that doesn’t surprise me one bit.”

Erika shoves the scanner door closed and presses the big green "GO" button.

The scanner twerps and bleeps as the less than complex plans are explained to Jack.

SCANS compete… DNA data stored…Modify Sequence…. Begin Clone….

“So when exactly do we give the finger back to Skyfox?”

"We aren’t giving it back, Jack. We are going to Replace an incomplete Skyfox with the new and complete Skyfox. "

“OK…. Ericka, when you say replace what exactly do you mean?”

I mean that we are going to Kill Bob @ 11 and put his body in the dumpster out back.

Numlock will handle the rest.