Entanglement itself does not directly cause a wave function collapse. Wave function collapse is a fundamental concept in quantum mechanics that occurs when a measurement is made on an entangled system.
Entanglement refers to a state where two or more particles are correlated in such a way that the quantum state of one particle cannot be described independently of the others. When two particles are entangled, their quantum states are said to be "entangled" or "entangled with each other."
When a measurement is performed on an entangled system, the entanglement can lead to a correlation between the measurement outcomes of the individual particles. However, the exact outcome of the measurement cannot be predicted with certainty beforehand, and instead, the measurement process causes the wave function of the system to "collapse" into one of the possible measurement outcomes.
This collapse of the wave function is a non-deterministic process and is often described as a random selection of one of the possible measurement outcomes. The collapse is not caused directly by entanglement but rather by the act of measurement itself. Entanglement influences the probabilities of different measurement outcomes, but it does not directly cause the collapse.
It's worth noting that there are different interpretations of quantum mechanics, and the precise nature of wave function collapse is still a topic of debate and ongoing research. The above explanation reflects the commonly accepted interpretation known as the Copenhagen interpretation. Other interpretations, such as the many-worlds interpretation, provide alternative explanations for the observed phenomena but still maintain the role of measurement in causing wave function collapse.