Could Schrödinger’s Cat Exist in Real Life?
Have you ever been in more than one place at the same time? If you’re much bigger than an atom, the answer will be no.
But atoms and particles are governed by the rules of quantum mechanics, in which several different possible situations can coexist at once.
Quantum systems are ruled by what’s called a “wave function”: a mathematical object that describes the probabilities of these different possible situations.
And these different possibilities can coexist in the wave function as what is called a “superposition” of different states. For example, a particle existing in several different places at once is what we call “spatial superposition”.
It’s only when a measurement is carried out that the wave function “collapses” and the system ends up in one definite state.
Generally, quantum mechanics applies to the tiny world of atoms and particles. The jury is still out on what it means for large-scale objects.
In our research, published today in Optica, we propose an experiment that may resolve this thorny question once and for all.