^{Credit: Courtesy of Charles Kane}

^{By Amal Pushp, Affiliate Physicist at the Resonance Science Foundation}

Topology is a branch of mathematics concerning the properties of geometric objects and their shapes. These properties are essentially invariant under continuous deformations such as stretching, twisting, etc. Entanglement on the other hand is purely a physical phenomenon wherein two particles can influence each other instantaneously irrespective of the spatial distance between them.

In new research published in the journal Physical Review X, Charles Kane, who is the Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Physics in U. Penn's School of Arts & Sciences established a conceptual duality between topology and entanglement along with his collaborators [1].

Consider a sphere and a donut. The difference between the two lies in the fact that a donut, which has a toroidal topology, is specified by a single hole whereas there are no holes in a sphere. In this sense, a coffee mug...