EINSTEIN, Albert. PODOLSKY, Boris. ROSEN, Nathan. Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete?
Lancaster: American Physical Society, 1935. First edition, offprint issue.

Very rare offprint of the famous ‘EPR paper’ - one of the most discussed and debated papers of modern physics, and the foundation for the new fields of quantum computing and cryptography.

“In the May 15, 1935 issue of Physical Review Albert Einstein co-authored a paper with his two postdoctoral research associates at the Institute for Advanced Study, Boris Podolsky and Nathan Rosen. The article was entitled ‘Can Quantum Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete?’. Generally referred to as ‘EPR’, this paper quickly became a centerpiece in the debate over the interpretation of the quantum theory, a debate that continues today. The paper features a striking case where two quantum systems interact in such a way as to link both their spatial coordinates in a certain direction and also their linear momenta (in the same direction). As a result of this ‘entanglement’, determining either position or momentum for one system would fix (respectively) the position or the momentum of the other. EPR use this case to argue that one cannot maintain both an intuitive condition of local action and the completeness of the quantum description by means of the wave function.” (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). “The EPR paradox inspired many authors afterwards; in particular, discussion emerged on the revival of the hidden parameter idea by David Bohm and others after the early 1950’s. John Bell’s analysis of the situation in the 1960’s showed that hidden variables resulted in an inequality (for the ‘local condition’) which could be tested by experiment and found not to be satisfied.” (Pais: Twentieth Century Physics, I, p.229).

Technologies relying on quantum entanglement are now being developed. In quantum cryptography, entangled particles are used to transmit signals that cannot be eavesdropped upon without leaving a trace. In quantum computation, entangled quantum states are used to perform computations in parallel, which may allow certain calculations to be performed much more quickly than they ever could be with classical computers.

Weil *195.

4to. Offprint from: The Physical Review, vol. 47, 1935, pp. 777-780. Original printed wrappers; some light offsetting of rust from the staples of another paper, otherwise very fine. Custom clam shell box.