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Quantum Measurements Leave Schrödinger's Cat Alive

Posted by samzenpus on from the looking-in-the-box dept.

First time accepted submitter Walking The Walk writes "Your co-workers who keep using Schrödinger's cat metaphor may need to find a new one. New Scientist reports that 'by making constant but weak measurements of a quantum system, physicists have managed to probe a delicate quantum state without destroying it – the equivalent of taking a peek at Schrodinger's metaphorical cat without killing it. The result should make it easier to handle systems such as quantum computers that exploit the exotic properties of the quantum world.'"

3 of 210 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Equivalent of peeking without killing it ?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    This is the equivalent of weighing the box. By not opening the box you don't collapse the wave function. Instead you measure some other property that is independent of the wave function. It is nothing like peeking in the box, nor does it gain any information from the wave function.

  2. New Scientist? by edibobb · · Score: 4, Informative

    The New Scientist frequently makes quantum leaps in logic. Or was that logic leaps in quantum physics? I GET SO CONFUSED! At any rate, the real article is a bit less sensational.

    http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v490/n7418/full/nature11505.html

  3. Re:first post ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Does anyone here RTFA?

    Yes, I did. The summary quotes this part line by line: "physicists have managed to probe a delicate quantum state without destroying it – the equivalent of taking a peek at Schrodinger's metaphorical cat without killing it."

    This shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the cat experiment, in that the author is assuming that by opening the box the cat gets killed. When in fact the cat can be considered both alive AND dead while the box is unopened, and if you open it it might very well be alive and not dead. Thus it would be equally accurate (or inaccurate, rather) to say "the equivalent of taking a peek at Schrodinger's metaphorical cat without making it LIVE."

    And to be even more nitpicky, it does alter the quantum state- it changes the oscillation but does not destroy the superposition. They also have (simply put) found a way to return the oscillation to the pre-observation state within a relatively small timeframe.
    So yes, the parent's "???" was justified as the use of the analogy was horrible incorrect.