Schrödinger's Cat seen within the box..

This sounds pretty amazing if you ask me.

Schrödinger's Cat Comes into View with Strange Physics


Part of the message is hidden for the guests. Please log in or register to see it.


Full article here: http://www.livescience.com/47584-schrodingers-cat-comes-into-view.html

Really interesting stuff. Its good to see we finally solved the observation problem. The Schrodinger Cat concept was only ever a description of an observational problem since our tools, in the act of observation, forced one outcome or the other.

Interesting

I was looking for the original to see if it was published on April 1....

Heisenburg and the Observer effect both argue against this, so I'm having difficulty wrapping my brain about it...

Actually, I probably lack the brain power for sustained quantum thought....

Gisteron, help us out, what am I missing here (on the logic if not the physics side)?

I'd love to, but I can't. From what I know a photon is quite enough to produce enough interaction to determine or change a quantum state whether you measure it directly or an entangled photon in its stead. Then again, I know little to nothing about this, so take my word with a grain, nay, a pound of salt. It would help if the article cited its source or provided a link to the paper or a reference to the issue of the journal it was published in. But that would be too convenient and a popular science magazine doesn't need to be convenient.

All in all, chances are that the article goes a long way to misrepresent the actual finding as they never fail to do. The mere comparison of a cat cutout with a quantum state that is in superposition until forced is already laughable and surely that is a comparison the article made because actual physicists wouldn't. The cutout is there whether you see it or not, irrespective of whether you see it directly or a mirror image of it. Also, photons don't change its shape. Actual cats is not what Schrödinger's infamous illustration was about.

Honestly, I don’t think Schrödinger ever owned a cat or even knew much about them.
And here are a couple reasons…

1. Every cat in existence can’t help but get into stuff. So if there were a vial of poison in there with the cat, it WOULD be dead. 2. You don’t have to open a box to know if a cat is alive in it. You don’t even have to shake and listen for a meow. Every cat in the world goes crazy when they hear a can opener! Just open a can of cat food… you’ll know if the cat is alive or not.
Hahhahahhaha :laugh:

I was just left wondering who has to change the cat box ? :sick:

Wescli Wardest wrote: 1. Every cat in existence can’t help but get into stuff. So if there were a vial of poison in there with the cat, it WOULD be dead.

I present to you Cat Circles

(sorry, I know that's off topic!)

Um, correct me if I'm wrong (and I could be), and I know they're two different phenomena, but doesn't the observer effect apply to superpositional states? I mean, isn't it the act of observing the cat what locks it into one of the two states?

steamboat28 wrote: Um, correct me if I'm wrong (and I could be), and I know they're two different phenomena, but doesn't the observer effect apply to superpositional states? I mean, isn't it the act of observing the cat what locks it into one of the two states?

That's my understanding of it as well. Although I know next to nothing about physics, unless you count watching a lot of The Big Bang Theory.