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Is Schrödinger's cat dead oa alive?

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Grygiel W.

Zagadnienia Filozoficzne w Nauce

2005

issue 37

119-139

The Schrödinger's Cat paradox was proposed in 1935 by Edwin Schrodinger, one of the founders of quantum mechanics, as an attempt to visualize the macroscopic realization of a quantum superposition state. A cat is placed in a sealed box together with a vial of poison. A two-state particle (e.g. an electron) is sent into a detector in the box resulting either in a broken or an intact vial and a dead or live cat, respectively. The main problem consists in whether the superposition state of a microscopic particle can be transferred upon the macroscopic cat, that is, whether the cat can exist in a superposition state, being simultaneously dead and alive. Since the standard Copenhagen interpretation is unable to assign any reality to the quantum superposition state, the paradox finds no resolution within the regime of this interpretation. Von Neumann's insistence on the uniform treatment of both microscopic (quantum) and macroscopic (classical) objects according to the laws of quantum mechanics provides a more consistent framework for the resolution of the paradox. In particular, the discovery of the phenomenon of decoherence, whereby the disappearance of the quantum interferences at the macro level is accounted for, suggests the onset of an extremely efficient interference relaxation process (10-23 s) upon the interaction of the two state particle with the detector. As a result, Schrodinger's cat can exist macroscopically either as dead or alive and never as a combination of both. Decoherence not only aids the resolution of the Schrodinger's Cat paradox but also sheds light upon the mechanisms by which the macro-world emerges from the microscopic quantum realm.

Does the quantum mechanical wave function exist?

81%

Kiefer C.

Zagadnienia Filozoficzne w Nauce

2019

issue 66

111-128

I address the question whether the wave function in quantum theory exists as a real (ontic) quantity or not. For this purpose, I discuss the essentials of the quantum formalism and emphasize the central role of the superposition principle. I then explain the measurement problem and discuss the process of decoherence. Finally, I address the special features that the quantization of gravity brings into the game. From all of this I conclude that the wave function really exists, that is, it is a real (ontic) feature of Nature.

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2 Zagadnienia Filozoficzne w Nauce

1 Grygiel W.

1 Kiefer C.

1 2019

1 2005

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Is Schrödinger's cat dead oa alive?

Does the quantum mechanical wave function exist?