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arXiv:1603.07986 · Quanta

Schrödinger's Cat: Where Does The Entanglement Come From?

Radu Ionicioiu

Published Oct 6, 2017• 2 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Schrödinger's cat is one of the most striking paradoxes of quantum mechanics that reveals the counterintuitive aspects of the microscopic world. Here, I discuss the paradox in the framework of quantum information. Using a quantum networks formalism, I analyse the information flow between the atom and the cat. This reveals that the atom and the cat are connected only through a classical information channel: the detector clicks → the poison is released → the cat is killed. No amount of local operations and classical communication can entangle the atom and the cat, which are initially in a separable state. This casts a new light on the paradox. Quanta 2017; 6: 57–60.

DOI
10.12743/quanta.v6i1.64

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Schrödinger's cat is one of the most striking paradoxes of quantum mechanics that reveals the counterintuitive aspects of the microscopic world. Here, I discuss the paradox in the framework of quantum information. Using a quantum networks formalism, I analyse the information flow between the atom and the cat. This reveals that the atom and the cat are connected only through a classical information channel: the detector clicks → the poison is released → the cat is killed. No amount of local operations and classical communication can entangle the atom and the cat, which are initially in a separable state. This casts a new light on the paradox. Quanta 2017; 6: 57–60.
In this note I briefly discuss the Schrodinger's cat Gedankenexperiment. By analysing the information flow in the system I show that no entanglement exists between the atom and the cat. The atom and the cat are connected only through a classical information channel (detector clicks →\rightarrow→ poison is released →\rightarrow→ cat is dead). No amount of local operations and classical communication can entangle the atom and the cat. Consequently, the paradox disappears.
The Schrodinger's Cat paradox was proposed in 1935 by Edwin Schrodinger, one of the founders of quantum mechanics, as an attempt to visualize the macroscopic realization of a quantum superposition state. A cat is placed in a sealed box together with a vial of poison. A two-state particle (e.g. an electron) is sent into a detector in the box resulting either in a broken or an intact vial and a dead or live cat, respectively. The main problem consists in whether the superposition state of a microscopic particle can be transferred upon the macroscopic cat, that is, whether the cat can exist in a superposition state, being simultaneously dead and alive. Since the standard Copenhagen interpretation is unable to assign any reality to the quantum superposition state, the paradox finds no resolution within the regime of this interpretation. Von Neumann's insistence on the uniform treatment of both microscopic (quantum) and macroscopic (classical) objects according to the laws of quantum mechanics provides a more consistent framework for the resolution of the paradox. In particular, the discovery of the phenomenon of decoherence, whereby the disappearance of the quantum interferences at the macro level is accounted for, suggests the onset of an extremely efficient interference relaxation process (10-23 s) upon the interaction of the two state particle with the detector. As a result, Schrodinger's cat can exist macroscopically either as dead or alive and never as a combination of both. Decoherence not only aids the resolution of the Schrodinger's Cat paradox but also sheds light upon the mechanisms by which the macro-world emerges from the microscopic quantum realm.
The Schrödinger's Cat paradox was proposed in 1935 by Edwin Schrodinger, one of the founders of quantum mechanics, as an attempt to visualize the macroscopic realization of a quantum superposition state. A cat is placed in a sealed box together with a vial of poison. A two-state particle (e.g. an electron) is sent into a detector in the box resulting either in a broken or an intact vial and a dead or live cat, respectively. The main problem consists in whether the superposition state of a microscopic particle can be transferred upon the macroscopic cat, that is, whether the cat can exist in a superposition state, being simultaneously dead and alive. Since the standard Copenhagen interpretation is unable to assign any reality to the quantum superposition state, the paradox finds no resolution within the regime of this interpretation. Von Neumann's insistence on the uniform treatment of both microscopic (quantum) and macroscopic (classical) objects according to the laws of quantum mechanics provides a more consistent framework for the resolution of the paradox. In particular, the discovery of the phenomenon of decoherence, whereby the disappearance of the quantum interferences at the macro level is accounted for, suggests the onset of an extremely efficient interference relaxation process (10-23 s) upon the interaction of the two state particle with the detector. As a result, Schrodinger's cat can exist macroscopically either as dead or alive and never as a combination of both. Decoherence not only aids the resolution of the Schrodinger's Cat paradox but also sheds light upon the mechanisms by which the macro-world emerges from the microscopic quantum realm.
. It is pointed out that the conclusions drawn from a recent quantum interference experiment with light suggest an operational resolution of the Schrödinger cat paradox. On this occasion in honor of Prof. E.T. Jaynes, we recall that he devoted some of his research efforts to the interpretation of quantum mechanics, which led him to propose several experimental tests. Although the ‘neoclassical’ theory he developed was found not to be confirmed by experiment, it nevertheless played a role in encouraging us to think critically about quantum mechanics and to carry out new experiments. This short contribution is concerned with a well-known quantum problem of interpretation. The quantum paradox known as Schrödinger's cat, in which the cat is cast in a linear superposition of the state of being alive and the state of being dead, has been debated since the beginnings of quantum mechanics. Whereas most physicists are ready to concede the existence of superposition states for a microscopic quantum system like an atom, such states appear to be ruled out for a macroscopic system like a cat by common experience. The question then arises at which level classical concepts take over from quantum mechanical ones. In a very clear and readable discussion of this and other paradoxes Glauber has pointed out that the noise inevitably associated with the amplification process accompanying the measurement of a microscopic system leaves the cat in a mixed state rather than a pure one.
Erwin Schrodinger first described the thought-experiment which has since become known as 'the paradox of Schrodinger's cat' 51 years ago. In recent years, popular accounts of quantum mechanics have tended to adopt one or other of the philosophically most extreme solutions to this paradox, i.e. the consciousness hypothesis or the many worlds interpretation. The author attempts to redress the balance by describing what he takes to be the orthodox solution to the paradox which explains the paradox, without recourse to such counterintuitive notions as a cat simultaneously dead and alive or a universe continually splitting into multiple worlds, as being due to a misapplication of the quantum formalism.
Abstract In this chapter, the notion of quantum superposition of states is introduced through the example of a polarized photon. This brings out the novel feature that the state of the system depends on how the experiment is set up. The paradoxical consequences of quantum superposition, such as that a cat can be simultaneously dead and alive, are also discussed. This is the essence of the famous Schrödinger’s cat paradox. This description motivates another important consequence of quantum mechanical description of multiple objects; namely, their ability to exist in an entangled state. The properties of the two objects can remain entangled no matter how far away they are from each other and thus have the ability to influence each other. After discussing these aspects of quantum mechanics, the application of quantum entanglement to novel phenomena of quantum teleportation and quantum computing are presented.