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: 91
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. ... 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. ... 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. ... 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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