2020年经济学人量子领域没有蝴蝶效应(2)（打印版）

The classical butterfly effect suggests that the researchers' meddling should have changed it quite drastically.

经典蝴蝶效应表明，研究人员的干预本应该对其有巨大的改变。

In the event, the qubit's original state had been almost entirely recovered. Its state was not quite zero,

结果，这个量子位的原始状态几乎完全恢复了。其状态不是零，

but it was, in quantum-mechanical terms, 98.3% of the way there, a difference that was deemed insignificant.

而是，按照量子力学术语来说，达到了98.3%，这个差别被认为是可以忽略不计的。

"The final output state after the 'forward evolution' is essentially the same as the input state before 'backward evolution'," says Dr Sinitsyn.

‘正向进化’后的最终输出状态和‘反向进化’前的输入状态一样，”Sinitsyn博士说。

"It can be viewed as the same input state plus some small background noise."

“它可以被看做是相同的输入状态加上一些小的背景杂音。”

Oddest of all was the fact that the further back in simulated time the damage was done,

最奇怪的是，在模拟时间中，损害造成的时间越早，

the greater the rate of recovery—as if the quantum system was repairing itself with time.

恢复率也越大——就好像量子系统在随着时间的流逝而自我修复。

The mechanism behind all this is known as "entanglement".

这种机制被称为“量子纠缠”。

As quantum objects interact, their states become highly correlated—"entangled"—

随着量子物体相互作用，它们的状态变得高度相关——“相纠缠”——

in a way that serves to diffuse localised information about the state of one quantum object across the system as a whole.

其方式是将关于量子物体状态的局部信息扩散到整个系统。

Damage to one part of the system does not destroy information in the same way as it would with a classical system.

对系统某一部分的损坏不会像对经典系统那样破坏信息。

Instead of losing your work when your laptop crashes,

当你电脑崩溃时，你的工作内容不会丢失，

having a highly entangled system is a bit like having back-ups stashed in every room of the house.

拥有一个高度纠缠的系统就好像是将备份存放在了家里的每个房间中。

Even though the information held in the disturbed qubit is lost, its links with the other qubits in the system can act to restore it.

即使是被干扰的量子位中的信息丢失了，其和系统中其他量子位的联系可以恢复它。

The upshot is that the butterfly effect seems not to apply to quantum systems.

结果是蝴蝶效应似乎不适用于量子力学。

Besides making life safe for tiny time-travellers, that may have implications for quantum computing, too,

除了保证小小的时间旅行者的安全外，这也可能对量子计算产生影响，

a field into which companies and countries are investing billions of dollars.

各公司和各国都投入了数十亿美元在这个领域。

"We think of quantum systems, especially in quantum computing, as very fragile," says Natalia Ares, a physicist at the University of Oxford.

“我们认为量子系统，尤其是量子计算机中的，是非常脆弱的，”牛津大学的物理学家Natalia Ares说到。

"That this result demonstrates that quantum systems can in fact be unexpectedly robust is an encouraging finding,

“该结果证明量子系统其实可以异常坚固，这是一个鼓舞人心的发现，

and bodes well for potential future advances in the field."

也预示着该领域未来的发展潜力。”