Bananaworld: Quantum Mechanics for Primates

by Jeffrey Bub

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Book cover for Bananaworld

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What on earth do bananas have to do with quantum mechanics? From a modern perspective, quantum mechanics is about strangely counterintuitive correlations between separated systems, which can be exploited in feats like quantum teleportation, unbreakable cryptographic schemes, and computers with enormously enhanced computing power. Schrodinger coined the term "entanglement" to describe these bizarre correlations. Bananaworld -- an imaginary island with "entangled" bananas -- brings to life the fascinating discoveries of the new field of quantum information without the mathematical machinery of quantum mechanics. The connection with quantum correlations is fully explained in sections written for the non-physicist reader with a serious interest in understanding the mysteries of the quantum world. The result is a subversive but entertaining book that is accessible and interesting to a wide range of readers, with the novel thesis that quantum mechanics is about the structure of information. What we have discovered is that the possibilities for representing, manipulating, and communicating information are very different than we thought.
  • ISBN10 0198817843
  • ISBN13 9780198817840
  • Publish Date 15 March 2018 (first published 11 February 2016)
  • Publish Status Active
  • Publish Country GB
  • Imprint Oxford University Press
  • Format Paperback
  • Pages 290
  • Language English