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Quantum measurements leave Schrödinger's cat alive
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Oct 5, 2012, 1:47:22 AM10/5/12
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Quantum measurements leave Schrödinger's cat alive
By Lisa Grossman
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Schrödinger's cat, the enduring icon of quantum
mechanics, has been defied. By making constant but weak
measurements of a quantum system, physicists have managed
to probe a delicate quantum state without destroying it –
the equivalent of taking a peek at Schrodinger's
metaphorical cat without killing it. The result should
make it easier to handle systems such as quantum
computers that exploit the exotic properties of the
quantum world.
Quantum objects have the bizarre but useful property of
being able to exist in multiple states at once, a
phenomenon called superposition. Physicist Erwin
Schrödinger illustrated the strange implications of
superposition by imagining a cat in a box whose fate
depends on a radioactive atom. Because the atom's decay
is governed by quantum mechanics – and so only takes a
definite value when it is measured – the cat is, somehow,
both dead and alive until the box is opened.
Superposition could, in theory, let quantum computers run
calculations in parallel by holding information in
quantum bits. Unlike ordinary bits, these qubits don't
take a value of 1 or 0, but instead exist as a mixture of
the two, only settling on a definite value of 1 or 0 when
measured.
Continues here:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22336-quantum-measurements-leave-schrodingers-cat-alive.html
Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
By Lisa Grossman
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Schrödinger's cat, the enduring icon of quantum
mechanics, has been defied. By making constant but weak
measurements of a quantum system, physicists have managed
to probe a delicate quantum state without destroying it –
the equivalent of taking a peek at Schrodinger's
metaphorical cat without killing it. The result should
make it easier to handle systems such as quantum
computers that exploit the exotic properties of the
quantum world.
Quantum objects have the bizarre but useful property of
being able to exist in multiple states at once, a
phenomenon called superposition. Physicist Erwin
Schrödinger illustrated the strange implications of
superposition by imagining a cat in a box whose fate
depends on a radioactive atom. Because the atom's decay
is governed by quantum mechanics – and so only takes a
definite value when it is measured – the cat is, somehow,
both dead and alive until the box is opened.
Superposition could, in theory, let quantum computers run
calculations in parallel by holding information in
quantum bits. Unlike ordinary bits, these qubits don't
take a value of 1 or 0, but instead exist as a mixture of
the two, only settling on a definite value of 1 or 0 when
measured.
Continues here:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22336-quantum-measurements-leave-schrodingers-cat-alive.html
Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
Mau C
Oct 5, 2012, 5:36:19 AM10/5/12
to
Il 05/10/2012 07:47, Dr. Jai Maharaj ha scritto:
> Quantum measurements leave Schrödinger's cat alive
http://afternoonsnoozebutton.com/post/9395842065/breaking-news-schrodingers-cat-is-alive-and
> Quantum measurements leave Schrödinger's cat alive
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