Entanglement, the quantum formalism and the classical world

Abstract

75 years after the term "entanglement" was coined to a peculiar feature inherent to quantum systems, the connection between quantum and classical mechanics remains an open problem. Drawing on recent results obtained in semiclassical systems, we discuss here the fate of entanglement in a closed system as Planck's constant becomes vanishingly small. In that case the generation of entanglement in a quantum system is perfectly reproduced by properly defined correlations of the corresponding classical system. We speculate on what these results could imply regarding the status of entanglement and of the ensuing quantum correlations.