Science/Tech
See other Science/Tech ArticlesTitle: Schrodinger's Cat experiment for real
Source:
Technology Review
URL Source: http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/24101/
Published: Sep 12, 2009
Author: Unknown
Post Date: 2009-09-12 03:17:07 by Armadillo
Keywords: None
Views: 75
Comments: 1
How to Create Quantum Superpositions of Living Things First photons, atoms and molecules. Now physicists want to create a quantum superposition of a virus, which will allow them to perform Schrodinger's Cat experiment for real.
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Having created quantum superpositions of photons, electrons, atoms and even molecules, one of the current obsessions is to create a quantum superposition of a living thing, such as a virus. The question is how to do this and whether it makes any sense to say these things are living at all.
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The experiment will first involve storing a virus in a vacuum and then cooling it to its quantum mechanical ground state in a microcavity. Zapping the virus with a laser then leaves it in a superposition of the ground state and an excited one.
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But why bother? Performing a Schrodinger's cat experiment would be fun (although not for the virus). Romero-Isart and pals go further and say the work will "experimentally address fundamental questions, such as the role of life in quantum mechanics,and differences between many-world and Copenhagen interpretations". Perhaps. But their contention that it will also address "the role of consciousness in quantum mechanics" seems a step too far (although a flu virus may beg to differ). Click for Full Text!
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