Physicists confirm quantum entanglement in top quarks at CERN's Large Hadron Collider
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An international team using the ATLAS detector at CERN's Large Hadron Collider has confirmed quantum entanglement between top quarks, the heaviest known elementary particles. The result, announced by CERN on September 17, 2026, provides the first observation of entanglement at the highest energies yet achieved. The finding opens a new avenue for testing quantum mechanics in extreme conditions.
Key Facts
- The ATLAS collaboration at CERN observed quantum entanglement between top quarks produced in proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV.
- The measurement was announced by CERN on September 17, 2026.
- The entanglement was detected with a statistical significance of more than 5 standard deviations.
- Top quarks are the heaviest known elementary particles, with a mass of about 173 GeV.
The Measurement
The ATLAS collaboration analyzed data from proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV recorded between 2015 and 2018. The team selected events containing a pair of top quarks and measured the spin correlation between them. The observed spin correlation exceeds the classical limit by more than 5 standard deviations, confirming quantum entanglement. The result was published in the journal Nature on September 17, 2026.
Significance
This is the first observation of entanglement between particles as heavy as top quarks. The measurement demonstrates that quantum entanglement persists at the highest energies and smallest distances probed to date. The finding provides a new tool for testing the Standard Model and searching for physics beyond it.
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