Difference between revisions of "Schrödinger's Cat"

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-When scientists and historians mention "Schrödinger's Cat" they are usually referring to the seemingly paradoxical thought experiment devised by Erwin Schrödinger that attempts to illustrate that early interpretations of quantum mechanics were overrated and dumb.  It has only lately been discovered that so-called "Schrödinger's Cat" was actually many cats, which Schrödinger sacrificed in the name of scientific discovery until he found the results he wanted.  Controversy over Schrödinger's methods and findings has raged throughout the scientific community over the past 45 years and has recently spilled over into the realm of social activism.
-== Origins ==
-Schrödinger proposed his "cat" experiment after debates with Albert Einstein over the Copenhagen interpretation, which Schrödinger defended, stating that if a scenario existed where a cat could be so isolated from external interference (decoherence), the state of the cat can only be known as a superposition (combination) of possible rest states (eigenstates), because finding out (measuring the state) cannot be done without the observer interfering with the experiment — the measurement system (the observer) is entangled with the experiment.
-Einstein, believing that Schrödinger was speaking only figuratively, demanded that he "prove it," prompting Schrödinger to retreat to a remote island in the Caribbean to perform his now-famous set of experiments that at that time were kept well under wraps.
-== The Experiment ==
-Notebooks found at Schrödinger's Caribbean estate reveal his original layout for the series of experiments:
-"A cat is penned up in a steel chamber, along with the following device (which must be secured against direct interference by the cat): in a Geiger counter there is a tiny bit of radioactive substance, so small, that perhaps in the course of the hour one of the atoms decays, but also, with equal probability, perhaps none; if it happens, the counter tube discharges and through a relay releases a hammer which shatters a small flask of hydrocyanic acid. If one has left this entire system to itself for an hour, one would say that the cat still lives if meanwhile no atom has decayed. The psi-function of the entire system would express this by having in it the living and dead cat mixed or smeared out in equal parts."
-Schrödinger experimented with approximately 10 different cats, most of which were picked up locally as strays.  However, the final three cats used were in fact Schrödinger's own pets.  Mittens, an 8-year-old silver American shorthair, survived two runs of the experiment, emerging entirely alive from the steel chamber in two consecutive experiments.  Sport, a playful and robust Havana Brown, survived the first run but in the second was killed by the radioactive material.  Unfortunately, Sport's state at death was entirely cohesive, contributing nothing toward Schrödinger's hypothesis.  Finally, Schrödinger found success with his long-time favorite pet Mr. Whiskers, an elderly striped tabby whose frailty may have contributed in a small part to the eventual success of the experiment.  Mr. Whiskers was placed in the steel chamber and left in the system for over an hour.  Upon his return, Schrödinger found Mr. Whiskers part-dead and part-alive, with the matter of each half, as expected, "mixed or smeared out in equal parts."
-Schrödinger is said to have jumped from his bathtub and cried "Eureka!" when this happened, but so far no sources have been able to corroborate this.  Skeptics say that Schrödinger would have to have been sitting in the bathtub at the time of the discovery for this to have happened, meaning the experimental system was set up in his bathroom.  Inspection of the estate shows that the only bathroom large enough to accomodate both Schrödinger's tub and the steel-chambered mechanism was the upstairs master bathroom, which diary entries suggest that the superstitious Schrödinger never used, believing there were "ghosts" in that room.  The so-called "Eureka!" incident has remained a point of bitter contention among physicists and historical biographers alike.
-== Conclusions ==
-Schrödinger did not immediately tell Einstein that he had found the solution.  Finding it necessary to conceal the evidence of the physical experiments that went on in his lab, Schrödinger was compelled to create an entirely false set of experimental data, mathematical and theoretical in nature, that would describe his results without revealing that they had been carried out on actual living cats.  Einstein was impressed with Schrödinger's findings, sending him a congratulatory letter which said the following:
-"You are the only contemporary physicist, besides Laue, who sees that one cannot get around the assumption of reality—if only one is honest. Most of them simply do not see what sort of risky game they are playing with reality—reality as something independent of what is experimentally established. Their interpretation is, however, refuted most elegantly by your system of radioactive atom + amplifier + charge of gun powder + cat in a box, in which the psi-function of the system contains both the cat alive and blown to bits. Nobody really doubts that the presence or absence of the cat is something independent of the act of observation."
-Apparently after receiving this letter, Schrödinger wrote in his diary, "It never occurred to me to use, instead of a live cat, an unstable keg of gun powder.  In retrospect, this approach may have been more humane.  I do feel, though, that my achievements in the realm of scientific progress far outway questions of my potential immorality."
-In the scientific world, Schrödinger's foolproof results merited much respect; the "Schrödinger's Cat" theory became one of the most famous and compelling defenses of the Copenhagen school of quantum mechanics.
-== Controversy ==
-It came as a shock to the world of science when, following Schrödinger's death in 1961, an exploration of his estate and the finding of hidden data and diary entries revealed the grisly nature of his experiments.  Determined not to let the unflattering truth impugn the integrity of the Copenhagen school, many of its leading proponents, most notably German physicist Werner Heisenberg, fought to repress much of the information that came out on Schrödinger.  Widespread awareness of the "Schrödinger's Cats" scandal did not catch on until the late 1980s, when the animal rights group PETA used obscure derogatory references to Schrödinger's career in an early ad campaign.
-There is still some dispute over exactly how many cats were used in Schrödinger's experiments.  While the generally accepted tally is 10, estimates range anywhere from 5 to 500 animals killed.  Animal Rights activists have demanded that an official investigation be launched into Schrödinger's little-known scientific processes.  In 2005, the Austrian estate of Erwin Schrödinger refused a request for $10 million in compensation to be distributed among various animal-friendly charities.  A movement has been made recently to rename the "Schrödinger's Cat" theory "Schrödinger's Cats," a politically correct label which would more aptly honor the dead.  So far, "Schrödinger's Cat" has remained the accepted term.

Difference between revisions of "Schrödinger's Cat"

Revision as of 21:15, March 18, 2007

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