Schrödinger’s cat paradox, one of the most complex problems in quantum mechanics, may have finally been solved. Proposing today a possible new theory of why the famous cat always appears in a single state once observedincluded theoretical physicists from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain, according to whom the explanation is based largely on the assumption that each possibility of a quantum system constitutes in itself a universea concept known as the theory of many worlds. The details were published in a study in the magazine Physical Review.
Schrödinger’s cat paradox
In 1935, Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger described a thought experiment, Schrödinger’s cat paradox, in which a cat is placed in a box under such special circumstances that, according to the laws of quantum physics, it is impossible to know whether it is alive. or dead. The so-called cat states (life or death) are therefore typically fragile and fleeting quantum superpositions, in which an object can be in several states and it is impossible to know which one it really occupies. In other words, it occupies them all simultaneously.
Interpret uncertainty
Although combinations of particle states are forced into a series of possible fates on paper, they do not exist as physical absolutes even when no one is observing them. An attempt to make sense of this distinction in reality, that is, the fact that the time and space that we can observe are not the only possible reality, consists precisely in imagining all the possibilities of states of the particles as equally valid, each of which represents its own universe. Of these many worlds, only one crosses into our own when it encounters our vast network of established possibilities, earning the right to be considered “real.”
A possible solution
The new proposal is based on the concept that each possibility of a quantum system constitutes a universe. Specifically, physicists have hypothesized that, given the complexity of the universe surrounding Schrödinger’s cat that includes the box, the observers, the building they are in, and much beyond, the rapidly increasing interactions between an environment and the states alive and dead in time mean that both do not appear simultaneously.
In fact, this merging of worlds occurs at such a small level and so quickly that relatively few particles can quickly smooth out the confusion of an undecided state, making the quantum haze almost disappear on a smaller scale. “Since everyday objects contain enormous quantities of particles, this explains why the multiverse is not directly perceptible to us,” the authors write in the article.
Problem solved?
Although the new theory helps us visualize the choice of a single state from a range of countless possibilities, the explanation is based on the assumption that, if they existed, all universes would behave this way. Therefore, the possibility that the right combination of entangled states could produce a mix of live cat and dead cat cannot be ruled out. Furthermore, the question of how much quantum randomness can influence a macroscopic reality like ours remains unresolved.
Article originally published in WIRED Italy. Adapted by Mauricio Serfatty Godoy.
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