bangstrom wrote:There is an observable, non-local, causal connection between entangled particles and this has often been demonstrated by experiment.
This mistaken impression is one of the toughest for professors to deal with as it is so counterintuitive.
Imagine a case of ambidextrous oven mitts. A "pair" is defined (or "prepared") by withdrawing two. This is a shared (or "entangled") state in that there can be be a left mitt and a right mitt, though neither yet bears such a designation. They are together, simply "a pair" (analogous to a total-spin-zero state of two entangled electrons).
We decide to measure the handedness of a mitt by throwing it in the air. If it lands with thumb to the right, it's a "right mitt"; thumb to the left, it's a "left mitt". "Thumb right" and "thumb left" have no absolute meaning but depend entirely upon the observer's orientation to (interaction with) the mitt being measured. A similar rule (a designation in the landing zone) could as easily have been made to measure "thumb toward" or "thumb away" from the observer.
Key point: Once the landed mitt has been measured (say "right mitt"), the other of the pair simultaneously, at any separation, acquires the opposite designation ("left mitt"). This involves no interaction whatever between the two mitts, only their prior preparation (designation) as a pair. The only causal interaction was the random observation by the observer of the measured mitt. When that happened, their shared state of being simply "a pair" precipitated into two separate states of being a "right mitt" and a "left mitt".