吴健雄:从量子纠缠到宇称不守恒  

Chien-Shiung Wu:from quantum entanglement to parity nonconservation

作　　者：施郁 SHI Yu(CAS Center for Excellence in Quantum Information and Quantum Physics,University of Science and Technology of China,Shanghai 201315,China;University of Science and Technology of China,Hefei 230026,China;Department of Physics,Fudan University,Shanghai 200438,China)

机构地区：[1]中国科学院量子信息与量子科技创新研究院,中国科学技术大学上海研究院,上海201315 [2]中国科学技术大学,安徽合肥230026 [3]复旦大学物理学系,上海200438

出　　处：《新兴科学和技术趋势》2024年第3期225-243,共19页

基　　金：国家自然科学基金专项项目(T2241005)。

摘　　要：本文基于作者2022年5月在“纪念吴健雄先生诞辰110周年学术研讨会”上的演讲,对吴健雄的研究工作进行了全面概览,并重点回顾和分析她关于量子纠缠和宇称不守恒的两项工作。她博士期间关于放射性氙的研究后来在曼哈顿计划中发挥了重要作用,而她在战时关于慢中子效应和放射性探测器的工作在战后1946年到1948年发表。宇称革命之前,吴健雄已经是β衰变的顶尖专家,1946年至1956年发表了50多篇β衰变论文,其中最重要的是1949年她和学生Albert对费米β衰变理论的验证。1950年她和学生Shaknov用正负电子湮没验证量子电动力学的预言,用光子偏振实现了空间分离的量子纠缠态并进行了关联测量。本文还梳理了弱相互作用中宇称不守恒的发现过程。李政道-杨振宁的伟大理论突破开启了宇称革命,但没有宇称是否守恒的明确结论,而吴健雄领导的实验首次发现了弱相互作用中宇称不守恒。Garwin、Lederman和Weinrich得知吴实验的初步结果后,很快得到明确结果,但是吴健雄和合作者仍然坚持对自己的实验完成核实。这一点与吴健雄做此实验的最初决定都体现出,吴健雄首先追求的是物理规律的真相和实验的可靠。本文最后总结了吴健雄作为伟大的实验物理学家的特质。This paper is based on the author’s speech at the International Symposium Commemorating 110^(th)Birth Anniversary of Chien Shiung Wu in May 2022.We make an overview of the researches of Chien-Shiung Wu,with emphases on her works on quantum entanglement and on parity nonconservation.Her PhD work on radioactive xeron later became important in Manhattan Project,while her wartime works on slow neutron effect and radioactive detectors were published during the period of 1946 to 1948.Before the Parity Revolution,Wu had already become a top expert on β decay,and had published more than 50 papers on this subject,the most important of which is her test of Fermi’s theory of β decay with Albert.In 1950,She and Shaknov tested the predictions of quantum electrodynamics using electron-positron annihilation,realizing quantum entanglement between polarizations of spatially separated photons and measuring the correlation.In particular,we recall the process of the discovery of parity nonconservation.The great theoretical breakthrough of Lee-Yang initiated the parity revolution.However,they did not provide a definite answer on whether the parity is conserved.The experiment led by Wu discovered that the parity is indeed not conserved.After Garwin,Lederman and Weinrich had obtained the positive result on parity nonconservation following the preliminary result of Wu experiment,Wu and her collaborators continued checking their experiment till the result was completely sure.This and her decision to do the experiment in the first place showed her great scientific spirit.Finally we summarize her characteristics as a great experimental physicist.

关 键 词：吴健雄 Β衰变 宇称不守恒 量子纠缠 

分 类 号：O572.23[理学—粒子物理与原子核物理]