April 5, 2025
George Mason University, Fairfax Campus
US/Eastern timezone

Quantum Entanglement Pedagogy

Apr 5, 2025, 11:30 AM
15m
George Mason University, Fairfax Campus

George Mason University, Fairfax Campus

4400 University Drive Fairfax, VA 22030

Speaker

Robert Hilborn (University of Maryland)

Description

Quantum entanglement is a key resource for the use of multi-qubit quantum states in quantum computing and quantum information science. However, the traditional ways of teaching about entanglement deploy challenging concepts such as tensor product Hilbert spaces and tensor product operators. In this talk I will describe a much simpler method to introduce quantum entanglement at a level appropriate for high school and undergraduate students. This approach makes use of simple basic probability theory (joint, total, and conditional probabilities) and the Born rule, which relates quantum state coefficients to the probabilities for measurement outcomes. In addition, this method removes many of the mysteries surrounding entanglement and prepares the students for entanglement applications such as quantum state teleportation, quantum encryption, and superdense coding.

Primary author

Robert Hilborn (University of Maryland)

Presentation materials