Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

This Twist on Schrödinger’s Cat Paradox Has Major Implications for Quantum Theory
Scientific American ^ | August 17, 2020 | Zeeya Merali on

Posted on 08/17/2020 9:17:34 PM PDT by BenLurkin

Wigner sharpened the paradox by imagining a (human) friend of his shut in a lab, measuring a quantum system. He argued it was absurd to say his friend exists in a superposition of having seen and not seen a decay unless and until Wigner opens the lab door.

[Nora] Tischler and her colleagues have carried out a version of the Wigner’s friend test. By combining the classic thought experiment with another quantum head-scratcher called entanglement—a phenomenon that links particles across vast distances—they have also derived a new theorem, which they claim puts the strongest constraints yet on the fundamental nature of reality.

Until quantum physics came along in the 1920s, physicists expected their theories to be deterministic, generating predictions for the outcome of experiments with certainty. But quantum theory appears to be inherently probabilistic. The textbook version...says that until a system’s properties are measured, they can encompass myriad values. This superposition only collapses into a single state when the system is observed...

Today most physicists concur that inanimate objects can knock quantum systems out of superposition through a process known as decoherence. Certainly, researchers attempting to manipulate complex quantum superpositions in the lab can find their hard work destroyed by speedy air particles colliding with their systems. So they carry out their tests at ultracold temperatures and try to isolate their apparatuses from vibrations.

Several competing quantum interpretations have sprung up over the decades that employ less mystical mechanisms...to explain how superpositions break down without invoking consciousness...The most exotic is the “many worlds” view, which says that whenever you make a quantum measurement, reality fractures, creating parallel universes to accommodate every possible outcome. Thus, Wigner’s friend would split into two copies and, “with good enough supertechnology,” he could indeed measure that person to be in superposition from outside the lab...

(Excerpt) Read more at scientificamerican.com ...


TOPICS: Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: quantumtheory; schrdingerscat; schrodingerscat; schroedingerscat; stringtheory
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-49 next last

1 posted on 08/17/2020 9:17:34 PM PDT by BenLurkin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

2 posted on 08/17/2020 9:18:17 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire. Or both.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

Biocentrism. Is a hot babe really a hot babe before somebody leers at her?


3 posted on 08/17/2020 9:32:11 PM PDT by dp0622 (I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO ABOUT THE COVID GODFATHER I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO. YOU CAN ACT LIKE A MAN!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dp0622

Yes, because she has a mirror.


4 posted on 08/17/2020 9:37:16 PM PDT by freedomjusticeruleoflaw (Strange that a man with his wealth would have to resort to prostitution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

I suspected this all along.


5 posted on 08/17/2020 9:37:41 PM PDT by Eagles6
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Eagles6
I suspected this all along.

I did, and I didn't.

6 posted on 08/17/2020 9:42:26 PM PDT by Billthedrill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

“The new work is an “important step forward in the field of experimental metaphysics,” says quantum physicist Aephraim Steinberg of the University of Toronto, who was not involved in the study. “It’s the beginning of what I expect will be a huge program of research.””

I think we have collapsed the superposition of this study - IT’S GRANTS!!


7 posted on 08/17/2020 9:45:22 PM PDT by aquila48 (Do not let them make you care! Guilting you is how they control you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Billthedrill

I see what you did there. LOL


8 posted on 08/17/2020 9:50:07 PM PDT by Eagles6
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Billthedrill; Eagles6

I’ve gotten the answer many times, but each time I finish writing it down I experience a wrenching sensation through my whole body and the sky turns a different color.


9 posted on 08/17/2020 10:04:44 PM PDT by Steely Tom ([Seth Rich] == [the Democrats' John Dean])
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

These people act like they understand the shit.


10 posted on 08/17/2020 10:16:54 PM PDT by webheart (Coronavirus, I give up. Come get me.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

“This superposition only collapses into a single state when the system is observed... “

Sounds suspiciously like “If a tree falls in the forest.....”


11 posted on 08/17/2020 10:21:08 PM PDT by doorgunner69 (Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading - T Jefferson)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

All I know is that the source article is about ten times longer than it needs to be.


12 posted on 08/17/2020 10:24:53 PM PDT by Moonman62 (http://www.freerepublic.com/~moonman62/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: aquila48

Always about the money

Large
Acquisition
Scheme (for)
Extremely (expensive)
Research


13 posted on 08/17/2020 10:28:33 PM PDT by Nifster (I see puppy dogs in the clouds)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

Turns out Schroedinger’s cat identifies as a dog, or what?


14 posted on 08/17/2020 10:29:55 PM PDT by Still Thinking (Freedom is NOT a loophole!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

Schroedinger hated cats. That’s why fluffy was hiding in the box.


15 posted on 08/17/2020 10:35:56 PM PDT by Lurkina.n.Learnin (Life is anecdotal)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

Our perceived quantum state is merely each individual’s observation point among all possibilities. Together. Simultaneously.

You wonder why everything is soooooo effed up?


16 posted on 08/17/2020 10:36:40 PM PDT by datura
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin
This superposition only collapses into a single state when the system is observed...

But isn't God the Ultimate Observer? Remember Bishop Berekley's par of limericks.

The ultimate tangled hierarchy rests on this principle:

The Universe could not exist as it is without us observing it so

BUT

We could not be here to observe the Universe if it did not exist as it is.

17 posted on 08/17/2020 10:47:13 PM PDT by TBP (Progressives lack compassion and tolerance. Their self-aggrandizement is all that matters.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: doorgunner69
“If a tree falls in the forest.....”

To quote Bishop Berkeley:

There was a young man who said, "God
Must think it exceedingly odd
To find that this tree
Continues to be
When there's no one about in the Quad.

Dear Sir, your astonishment's odd
I am always about in the Quad
And that's why this tree
Continues to be
Since observed by yours faithfully, God.

18 posted on 08/17/2020 10:51:20 PM PDT by TBP (Progressives lack compassion and tolerance. Their self-aggrandizement is all that matters.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

“Consciousness is the singular for which there is no plural.” — Erwin Schrodinger


19 posted on 08/17/2020 10:52:09 PM PDT by TBP (Progressives lack compassion and tolerance. Their self-aggrandizement is all that matters.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

20 posted on 08/17/2020 10:57:04 PM PDT by katnip
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-49 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson