On Mon, 17 Jun 2013 20:51:17 -0700, Carol DeVolder wrote:
What would Schrodinger say--the cat is neither dead nor alive, it just needs to be recharged?
Well this is a little complicated but if one reads the Wikipedia entry on Schrodinger's cat the following paraphrase of the situation, I think, provides the appropriate analogy: |Schrödinger's cat: a robotic cat with a limited battery life is placed |in a sealed box. If an internal monitor detects a prolonged period of lack of the cat's movement, the battery is dead. The Copenhagen |interpretation of quantum mechanics implies that after a while, the |cat is simultaneously powered and unpowered. Yet, when one |looks in the box, one sees the cat either powered and active or |unpowered and inactive, not both powered/alive and unpowered/dead. |This poses the question of when exactly quantum superposition ends |and reality collapses into one possibility or the other. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schroedinger%27s_cat To make the Schrodinger's cat situation more sensible, consider the following quote from the Wikipedia entry: |To further illustrate, Schrödinger describes how one could, in |principle, transpose the superposition of an atom to large-scale |systems. He proposed a scenario with a cat in a sealed box, |wherein the cat's life or death depended on the state of a subatomic |particle. According to Schrödinger, the Copenhagen interpretation |implies that the cat remains both alive and dead (to the universe |outside the box) until the box is opened. Schrödinger did not wish |to promote the idea of dead-and-alive cats as a serious possibility; |quite the reverse, the paradox is a classic reductio ad absurdum.[2] |The thought experiment illustrates quantum mechanics and the |mathematics necessary to describe quantum states. Intended as |a critique of just the Copenhagen interpretation (the prevailing |orthodoxy in 1935), the Schrödinger cat thought experiment remains |a typical touchstone for limited interpretations of quantum mechanics. |Physicists often use the way each interpretation deals with Schrödinger's |cat as a way of illustrating and comparing the particular features, |strengths, and weaknesses of each interpretation. And mind the nuts and bolts. -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=26123 or send a blank email to leave-26123-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
