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Predicting the Fate of Schrodinger's Cat

James D. Stein

Published Feb 23, 2018• 1 citation
OpenAlex

Abstract

We describe a simple experiment in which a radioactive atom in a box decays in unit time with probability equal to ½, but such that the probability of a correct prediction of whether or not the atom decays is greater than ½.

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Abstract In his 1935 Gedankenexperiment, Erwin Schrödinger imagined a box with a cat and a poisonous substance which has a 50% probability of being released, based on the decay of a radioactive atom. As such, the life of the cat and the state of the poison become entangled, and the fate of the cat is determined upon opening the box. We present an experimental technique that keeps the cat alive on any account. This method relies on the time-resolved Hong–Ou–Mandel effect: two long, identical photons impinging on a beam splitter always bunch in either of the outputs. Interpreting the first photon detection as the state of the poison, the second photon is identified as the state of the cat. Even after the collapse of the first photon’s state, we show their fates are intertwined through quantum interference. We demonstrate this by a sudden phase change between the inputs, administered conditionally on the outcome of the first detection, which steers the second photon to a pre-defined output and ensures that the cat is always observed alive.

arXiv:2106.09705•Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics•Feb 17, 2022•4 citations
We describe an experimental setup involving a single radioactive atom which decays in unit time with probability ½, but such that it is possible to successfully predict whether the atom decays with probability greater than ½. We also describe a strategy which correctly predicts with probability greater than ½ which of two radioactive atoms is more likely to decay in unit time, given that we can only observe one of the two species. These ideas are mathematical in nature but are very likely to have applications in physics as well as other areas.
We paraphrase Schrodinger's cat thought experiment as follows. A box hides from view a cat with a radioactive source where the probability of decay or no decay is equal. In the course of one hour, the probability of the state of decay causes the demise of the cat, or the probability of the state of no decay causes not the demise of the cat. Superposition is defined as both states rather than either state above, and is the red herring. Quantum theory asserts that either state implies both states concurrently as superposition. The state inside the box during the hour at any moment is not known exactly, but that does not mean both states are concurrent at any moment as superposition. However, before the end of the hour to open the box, interrupt the experiment, and force an inspection returns either state and hence falsifies a concurrent state of affairs of the red herring.
Schrodinger’s cat describes a paradox in which a cat is located in a sealed black box with a poison sealed capsule inside it. Radioactive source decays and emits radiation, which activates a Geiger counter, The Geiger counter generates a signal to release poison from the capsule and kill the cat. Since the decay of a radioactive source is a random sub atomic event, based on quantum mechanics we can only derive a probability-based assumption on the exact time that the decay of the radioactive atom will occur. The Copenhagen interpretation says that until an observer opens the box, the entire system is in superposition and the cat is both dead and alive. In this paper, I will show that we can extrapolate this superposition paradox also to the time domain and the entropy level of the system.
Abstract In his 1935 Gedankenexperiment, Erwin Schrödinger imagined a box with a cat and a poisonous substance which has a 50% probability of being released, based on the decay of a radioactive atom. As such, the life of the cat and the state of the poison become entangled, and the fate of the cat is determined upon opening the box. We present an experimental technique that keeps the cat alive on any account. This method relies on the time-resolved Hong–Ou–Mandel effect: two long, identical photons impinging on a beam splitter always bunch in either of the outputs. Interpreting the first photon detection as the state of the poison, the second photon is identified as the state of the cat. Even after the collapse of the first photon’s state, we show their fates are intertwined through quantum interference. We demonstrate this by a sudden phase change between the inputs, administered conditionally on the outcome of the first detection, which steers the second photon to a pre-defined output and ensures that the cat is always observed alive.