Physicists have long speculated that the quarks and gluons that make up protons may be in a state of quantum entanglement.. Quarks and gluons are the fundamental particles of the Universe. Now, for the first time, direct evidence has appeared of the presence of this strange phenomenon inside the subatomic particle proton, of which, in addition to the neutron, the nuclei of atoms consist. The new discovery is described in a study published in the journal Reports on Progress in Physics, writes Live Science.

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Particles in a state of quantum entanglement are connected in such a way that a change in one particle instantly causes a change in another, even if they are separated by vast distances. Albert Einstein initially rejected this idea and called quantum entanglement " But later research has proven that the strange quantum phenomenon does exist..

Physicists have discovered for the first time the existence of quantum entanglement between quarks and gluons inside protons at a distance of one quadrillionth of a meter, which allows the particles to exchange information throughout the proton. Thus, the new discovery changes the understanding of the internal structure and features of this subatomic particle.

Although quantum entanglement was proven back in the 1970s, many aspects of this strange phenomenon remain relatively unexplored.. This also applies to quantum entanglement between quarks..

This is because subatomic particles do not exist on their own, but instead coalesce into various combinations of particles known as hadrons.. Some hadrons are called baryons. Baryons such as protons and neutrons consist of three quarks, which are closely related to gluons, carriers of the strong interaction.

When individual quarks break away from hadrons, the energy used to extract them makes the particles unstable and turns them into jets of particles during the hadronization process.. This makes the task of sifting through trillions of particle breakdown products to restore them to their original state incredibly difficult.. But that's exactly what physicists did.

To study the internal state of protons, physicists used data obtained during experiments at the Large Hadron Collider. Physicists then applied a principle from quantum information science that states that the entropy of a system, a measure of how many energy states can be organized in a system, increases with quantum entanglement.

Scientists compared jets of particles with calculations of their entropy and found that quarks and gluons inside protons that collide in a particle accelerator are in the highest possible state of quantum entanglement. In this case, each particle shares the maximum possible information.

According to physicists, this discovery will help to better understand the nature of the fundamental particles of the Universe. For example, we can get an answer to the question why quarks and gluons remain confined inside protons. Physicists also believe that quantum entanglement inside protons can affect the structure of atomic nuclei, but it remains to be seen how this happens.

As Focus already wrote, the Universe is expanding faster than scientists can explain and this hints at new physics. The rate at which the universe is expanding has baffled physicists for decades.. Recent Study Adds New Problem.

Focus also wrote that astronomers have discovered a swarm of black holes that are sweeping through the Milky Way. In one of the globular star clusters, scientists have discovered more than a hundred hidden black holes of stellar mass.