The Schrodinger cat - the famous paradoxical experiment

The Schrodinger cat is a famous thought experiment. It was put by the famous Nobel laureate in physics - Austrian scientist Ervin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schroedinger.

The essence of the experiment was as follows. A cat was placed in a closed cell (box). The box is equipped with a mechanism that contains a radioactive core and a toxic gas. Parameters are chosen so that the probability of nuclear decay in one hour is exactly fifty percent. If the core disintegrates, the mechanism will come into operation and a container with a toxic gas will open. Therefore, Schrodinger's cat will die.

According to the laws of quantum mechanics, if one does not observe the nucleus, then its states will be described by the principle of superposition of two basic states - the nucleus of the decaying and not decaying. And then there is a paradox: the cat Schrödinger, who sits in a box, may be dead, and alive at the same time. But if you open the box, the experimenter will see only one particular state. Either "the nucleus has disintegrated, and the cat is dead," or "the nucleus has not disintegrated, and the Schrodinger cat is alive".

Logically, at the exit we will have one of two things: either a live cat or a dead cat. But here in potential the animal is in both states at once. Schroedinger tried in this way to prove his opinion on the limitations of quantum mechanics.

According to the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum physics, and this experiment in particular, the cat in one of its potential phases (dead-alive) acquires these properties only after an outside observer interferes with the process. But as long as this observer does not exist (here the presence of a concrete person is assumed that has virtues in the form of clarity of vision and consciousness), the cat will be in a suspended state "between life and death."

The famous ancient parable that the cat walks by itself, acquires in the context of this experiment new, interesting shades.

According to the many-world interpretation of Everett, which differs markedly from the classical Copenhagen one, the process of observation is not considered something special. Both states, in which the Schrodinger cat may exist, can exist in this interpretation. But they decode with each other. This means that the unity of these states will be violated just as a result of interaction with the outside world. It is the observer who opens the box, and introduces discord into the state of the cat.

There is an opinion that the decisive word in this matter should be left for such a creature as the Schrodinger cat. The meaning of this opinion is the acceptance of the fact that in all this experiment the animal is the only absolutely competent observer. For example, scientists Max Tegmark, Bruno Marshall and Hans Moraven presented a modification of the above experiment, where the main point of view is the opinion of the cat. In this case, the Schrodinger cat, undoubtedly, survives, because only the surviving cat can observe the results. But the scientist Nadav Katz published his results, in which he was able to "return" the state of the particle back after changing its state. Thus, the chances of survival in the cat noticeably increase.