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arXiv:2309.06387

The life and entangled adventures of Schrodinger's cat

Anthony Sudbery

Published Aug 8, 2023• 0 citations
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Abstract

In this lecture, intended for a general audience, I describe Schrödinger's thought experiment which was designed to show the strange results of extending the formalism of quantum theory, particularly the idea of superposition, beyond the subatomic regime. I describe a way to understand superposition in the terms of formal logic. I trace the development of Schrodinger's ideas after this thought experiment, and briefly sketch some work which realises it in actual experiments, and proposals for taking it further.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2309.06387

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In this lecture, intended for a general audience, I describe Schrödinger's thought experiment which was designed to show the strange results of extending the formalism of quantum theory, particularly the idea of superposition, beyond the subatomic regime. I describe a way to understand superposition in the terms of formal logic. I trace the development of Schrodinger's ideas after this thought experiment, and briefly sketch some work which realises it in actual experiments, and proposals for taking it further.
Abstract This paper, intended for a general audience, contains a description of Erwin Schrödinger’s thought experiment which was designed to show the strange results of extending the formalism of quantum theory, particularly the idea of superposition, beyond the subatomic regime. A way of understanding superposition in the terms of formal logic is outlined. The development of Schrödinger’s ideas after this thought experiment is traced along with a brief description of some work which realises it in actual experiments, as well as proposals for taking it further.
In this paper we consider the phenomenon of superpositions in quantum mechanics and suggest a way to deal with the idea in a logical setting from a syntactical point of view, that is, as subsumed in the language of the formalism, and not semantically. We restrict the discussion to the propositional level only. Then, after presenting the motivations and a possible world semantics, the formalism is outlined and we also consider within this schema the claim that superpositions may involve contradictions, as in the case of the Schrödinger's cat, which (it is usually said) is both alive and dead. We argue that this claim is a misreading of the quantum case. Finally, we sketch a new form of quantum logic that involves three kinds of negations and present the relationships among them. The paper is a first approach to the subject, introducing some main guidelines to be developed by a `syntactical' logical approach to quantum superpositions.
Schrodinger's cat thought experiment highlights the paradox of quantum superposition, which challenges classical interpretation of reality. This paper introduces a new perspective that addresses the coexistence of quantum states through an almost superposition in three - dimensional space. By building on a previous theory of space, the author suggests that quantum systems exhibit an almost simultaneity of states, which resolves the philosophical concerns raised by Schrodinger and Einstein. This novel framework negates the need for many world interpretations and provides a clearer understanding of quantum behavior.
The counter-intuitive aspects of quantum physics have been illustrated for some time by thought experiments, from Einstein's photon box to Schrödinger's cat. These experiments have now become real, with single particles — electrons, atoms or photons — directly unveiling the weird features of the quantum. State superpositions, entanglement and complementarity define a novel quantum logic that can be harnessed for information processing, raising great hopes for applications. This book describes a class of such thought experiments made real. Juggling with atoms and photons confined in cavities, ions or cold atoms in traps, provides an incentive to shed a new light on the basic concepts of quantum physics. Measurement processes and decoherence at the quantum-classical boundary are highlighted.
In quantum theory, a particle is allowed to be in a state of coherent superposition among a set of orthogonal states. A vivid picture of this concept is the “Schrödinger cat”: a cat is alive and dead simultaneously. This would be no surprise if one means a large number of an ensemble of cats with 50% alive and 50% dead. But, “Schrödinger cat” is a cat. People are talking about a cat being alive and dead simultaneously. In mathematics, the best word to characterize the relationship between states “alive” and “dead” is perhaps “orthogonal”. In quantum mechanics, the superposition of orthogonal states is used to describe the state of a quantum object, or a particle. The superposition principle is indeed a mystery compared to our everyday classical life experience. Beyond the superposition of orthogonal single-particle states, the superposition of orthogonal multi-particle states represents an even more troubling concept in classical theory.