Talk:Schrödinger's cat

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Copied to Quantum Mind page

The following section was copied to the Quantum Mind page on 4 Feb 2018 by user: wcrea6:

Erwin Schrödinger described how one could, in principle, create entanglement of a large-scale system by making it dependent on an elementary particle in a superposition. He proposed a scenario with a cat in a locked steel chamber, wherein the cat's life or death depended on the state of a radioactive atom, whether it had decayed and emitted radiation or not. According to Schrödinger, the Copenhagen interpretation implies that the cat remains both alive and dead until the state has been observed. Schrödinger did not wish to promote the idea of dead-and-alive cats as a serious possibility; on the contrary, he intended the example to illustrate the absurdity of the existing view of quantum mechanics.^[1] However, since Schrödinger's time, other interpretations of the mathematics of quantum mechanics have been advanced by physicists, some of which regard the "alive and dead" cat superposition as quite real.^[2]^[3]

References

^ Schrödinger, Erwin (November 1935). "Die gegenwärtige Situation in der Quantenmechanik (The present situation in quantum mechanics)". Naturwissenschaften. 23 (48): 807–812. Bibcode:1935NW.....23..807S. doi:10.1007/BF01491891.
^ Polkinghorne, J. C. (1985). The Quantum World. Princeton University Press. p. 67. ISBN 0691023883. Archived from the original on 2015-05-19. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ Tetlow, Philip (2012). Understanding Information and Computation: From Einstein to Web Science. Gower Publishing, Ltd. p. 321. ISBN 1409440400. Archived from the original on 2015-05-19. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

Semi-protected edit request on 7 September 2024

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"A commonly held interpretation of quantum mechanics is the Copenhagen interpretation.[13] In the Copenhagen interpretation, a system stops being a superposition of states and becomes either one or the other when an observation takes place. This thought experiment makes apparent the fact that the nature of measurement, or observation, is not well-defined in this interpretation, (x) which simply provides no explanation for the nature of the cat while the box is closed. The wavefunction description of the system consists of a superposition of the states "decayed nucleus/dead cat" and "undecayed nucleus/living cat". Only when the box is opened and observed can we make a statement about the cat.[5]: 157"

Where i've written (x), add "thus giving way to the interpretation problem which Schrodinger tried to solve" That'll make it more clear what the whole point of schrodinger's cat actually is MAahilM (talk) 14:41, 7 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@MAahilM I changed the paragraph though not in the way you requested. The cat concept is not about the measurement problem itself, that is the issue of how a quantum state in superposition becomes an eigenstate of measurement. Please reveiw. Johnjbarton (talk) 16:17, 7 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Already done ⸺(Random)staplers 18:12, 7 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Borderline synthesis?

A lot of this article seems to be of the form "Cat is about X, here is Stuff about X", whether or not the source connects "Stuff" to "Cat". Johnjbarton (talk) 18:01, 7 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

[Schrodinger1935-1] Schrödinger, Erwin (November 1935). "Die gegenwärtige Situation in der Quantenmechanik (The present situation in quantum mechanics)". Naturwissenschaften. 23 (48): 807–812. Bibcode:1935NW.....23..807S. doi:10.1007/BF01491891.

[Polkinghorne-2] Polkinghorne, J. C. (1985). The Quantum World. Princeton University Press. p. 67. ISBN 0691023883. Archived from the original on 2015-05-19. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

[Tetlow-3] Tetlow, Philip (2012). Understanding Information and Computation: From Einstein to Web Science. Gower Publishing, Ltd. p. 321. ISBN 1409440400. Archived from the original on 2015-05-19. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

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