Optical quantum entanglement in astrophysics
Javier Gómez · 2010
We found that the most feasible naturally produced quantum entanglement between two distant particles from astrophysical regions is the two-photon spontaneous transition of the hydrogen 2 2 S 1/2 metastable level, which is known to be one of the components of the continuous spectra of ionized regions.We calculate the two-photon emission rate the Orion Nebula, two nearby planetary nebulae IC 2149 and NGC 7293, and the Solar Corona; whose production of entangled pairs per second is 5.80 × 10 48 , 9.39 × 10 45 , 9.77 × 10 44 , and 1.46 × 10 16 respectively.The distribution of the propagation directions of both emitted photons does not vanish at any angle; therefore it is possible to observe the entangled pair at an angles θ ≈ 0 • .Because the number of two-photon coincidences goes as the fourth power of the ratio between the detector size and the distance from the astrophysical object, coincidences are scarce; for its detection we required receivers with a size much larger than those currently available.