An entangled atom-light state realizes a paradoxical thought experiment by Erwin Schrödinger

Phys,org ^ | January 22, 2019 | Max Planck Society

[aimhigh]

First something has to create a photon of light. I’m curious what gets it to suddenly travel at the speed of light, in all directions.

[Lurking Libertarian]

Sorry, but alive and dead are mutually exclusive. Alive is not dead. Dead is not alive. What he meant to say was that there was no way to know the current state of the imaginary cat. He got confused. Words are so hard to understand.

You need to read a bit more about quantum theory.

Objects big enough to see (like cats) are indeed either dead or alive. But-- at least according to quantum theory-- at a subatomic level, minuscule particles are simultaneously in two places at once. It's not just that we can't tell if they are in one place or another; they are literally in both places at the same time.

Schrodinger's "thought experiment" was an attempt to ridicule this theory, but so far, evidence has tended to support the quantum theory.

[ETL]

First something has to create a photon of light. I’m curious what gets it to suddenly travel at the speed of light, in all directions.

The speed of light is the supposed speed limit of the universe. It isn't only light that travels at that speed, but, according to theory, any massless object. ie, gravitons, alleged carrier of the gravitational "force".

[mikrofon]

[Brilliant]

“all measurements were found to confirm Schrödinger’s prediction.”

Schrödinger’s prediction was that the cat would be both dead and alive at the same time. How did they measure that?

Experiments like these leave me skeptical. They make sweeping claims but we’re just expected to take their word for it that the experiment shows what they claim.

[JoeFromSidney]

Well, as a cat lover, I'm glad they've found a way to conduct the experiment without killing a cat.

[grey_whiskers]

[Lurking Libertarian]

Schrödinger’s prediction was that the cat would be both dead and alive at the same time. How did they measure that?

The prediction of quantum theory (not Schrodinger's prediction) was that a single atom could exist in two mutually-exclusive states at once. The experimenters claim to have achieved that result; I don't know nearly enough physics to comment on whether they did or not.

The cat thing was just a joke on Schrodinger's part. He did not believe that quantum theory was correct and, to illustrate its absurdity, he imagined a giant Rube Goldberg-like machine which could kill a cat powered by a single atom (an engineering impossibility, of course) and said that if quantum theory were correct, the cat would be simultaneously dead and alive.

[cpdiii]

The reason quantum entanglement, it is real, is still a debate is we do not understand it. I doubt we will in my lifetime.

Schroeder’s cat is alive and well in his box. If you open it he may die, even worse he may be alive and entanglement goes out the window.

I wish Schroeder had selected Chihuahuas for possible quantum extinction. I like my cats, I like my dogs but abhor Chihuahuas.

[Brilliant]

I think it’s all showmanship. Their experiment does not come close to approximating what Schrödinger predicted based on quantum theory. Schrödinger was dealing with cats not atoms. Also whether an atom exists in two states simultaneously is not in theory determinable by a measurement since the probability distribution collapses into one state or the other when the measurement is made. These articles tend to be sensationalism and little more. They are far too obscure to offer any real insight.