FW: [IP] Schrodinger's Cat Experiment Proposed

This is pretty neat!

 

Sam

---

From: Dave Farber [mailto:dave@farber.net]
Sent: Sun 9/27/2009 1:48 PM
To: ip
Subject: [IP] Schrodinger's Cat Experiment Proposed

 

Begin forwarded message:

From: bobr@bobrosenberg.phoenix.az.us
Date: September 27, 2009 3:46:54 EDT
To: Dave Farber <dave@farber.net>
Subject: Schrodinger's Cat Experiment Proposed

Hi Dave

I just noticed this item from the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Physics regarding
Schrodinger's Cat.

Perhaps we'll finally learn the answer.

But I'm uncertain (Sorry, but I really couldn't resist that).   ;-)

Cheers,
Bob

--
Bob Rosenberg
P.O. Box 33023
Phoenix, AZ  85067-3023
Mobile:  602-206-2856
LandLine:  602-274-3012
bob@bobrosenberg.phoenix.az.us

----
Schrodinger's Cat Experiment Proposed
September 24th, 2009 by Sheeraz M. Hyder Schrodinger's cat
http://www.physorg.com/news173026471.html

Schrodinger's cat. Image by Dhatfield, Wikimedia Commons.

(PhysOrg.com) -- One of the classical problems in quantum mechanics concerns a man
and his feline companion. The man has placed his cat in an opaque tank and is
slowing pumping it full of poison. Now until the man opens the tank and looks
inside, he cannot be sure whether the cat is dead or alive. That is to say, the cat
is both dead and alive at the same time. Impossible but such is the nature of the
problem that faced this man. The man's name is Erwin Schrodinger and the problem is
that of his Uncertainty Principle.

For nearly a century, his problem has remained a quixotic quest for physicists.
Particle physics has always held that matter can only exist at one state in one
time. That is why particles are classified as moving with an up or down spin but
nothing in between. In recent years that rule has been bent with the superposition
of atoms and other nonliving things. Superposition is the term for an object that is
not being observed that exists as both possibilities: up and down, dead and alive.
This allows physicists to observe the matter in two different states at the same
time. However, thus far it has only been done with non-living things. A life-form
has never been superimposed. Now, one physicist says he may have an answer.

Oriol Romero-Isart is at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Physics in Garching in
Germany. Along with his team he is proposing a "Schrodinger's virus" experiment that
would follow the same general principles of Schrodinger's Cat. Using an
electromagnetic field created by a laser, the virus would be trapped in a vacuum.
Then, using another laser, the virus will be slowed down until it lies motionless in
its lowest possible energy state.

Now that the virus is fixed, a single photon is used to put the virus into a
superposition of two states, moving and non-moving. Up until the point is measured
it is in both states. Only after a measurement is it found to be in one state and
one alone. The team has suggested that the tobacco mosaic virus be used. The virus
is rod-shaped and measures 50 nanometers wide and approximately 1 micrometer long.
There is debate however, whether the virus can truly be classified as "alive."
However the scientists are confident that the treatment could be extended to tiny
micro-organisms such as tardigrades who can survive in vacuum for days, making them
suitable for the "Schrodinger treatment."

However, physicists are doubtful about the experiment's results. Martin Plenio of
Imperial College in London says that there is little reason that a virus would
behave any differently than a similarly-sized inanimate object. However, there are
possibilities in testing large objects such as viruses and molecules. This is
because quantum mechanics says that macroscopic objects can enter superposition
however, it has never happened. Through these studies, Plenio believes that we will
finally be able to bridge the divide between the quantum world and our own
macroscopic world.

More information:

• Towards Quantum Superposition of Living Organisms, arxiv.org/abs/0909.1469

• Schrödinger's cat on Wikipedia.

© 2009 PhysOrg.com