QUOTE(darthvaron @ Dec 11 2007, 03:17 AM)
This paradox assumes that we know nothing about the inside of the box.
But by tunneling "some" information may get outside of the box except if the walls have an "infinity" potential. But a real infinity potential means that somehow the box is not connected to our universe so it's not a physical problem because there is noway to interact with the inside of the box.
...
And of course that mean that this paradox is nothing more than an "approximation" to a real phenomenon
Try not to read too much into the analogy. Still, if you want a really accurate description, follow this link to the
Wikipedia article. Basically, it's not just any cardboard box through which we can "tunnel" information, but one that will shield the system inside from any outside influences and observation. Simply put, it is a box that is completely opaque to whatever means of measurement one intends to employ in discovering the metabolic state of the cat.
The point of Schroedinger's Cat is that, after a while, the cat is both alive and dead. Only by observation, that is opening the box, do we discover whether the cat is alive or dead. Now, the question actually posed by this thought experiment is, "When does the cat stop being both dead and alive, and assumes only one state?" Or more accurately, when does the cat stop being in a mixture of states and become strictly one or the other?
The
Coppenhagen Interpretation states that the very act of measuring something influences its state. For example, whilst the box is closed, there exist an infinite number of probability fields (or wave functions) inside the box. However, the act of opening the box ("measuring" whether the cat is dead or alive) collapses all these wave functions such that only one remains; we eventually discover that the cat is dead or alive.
Allow me to digress a bit and explain more about a phenomenon that seems to prove this theory: the
Double Slit Experiment.
Note that when light is shone on two (parralel) narrow slits, a distinct diffraction pattern can be seen on the other side. This is caused by the wave nature of light: light passing through one slit interferes with that passing through the other. This is also observable in other experiments involving waves on a medium.
Now, the scientists tried another experiment. They bombarded those two slits with electrons, which are, as we know them, particles, not waves. We should expect to see two parallel lines on the other side. However, when the scientists did it, they saw an interference pattern.
Working on the idea that, perhaps, the electrons are interfering with each other, the scientists fired electrons one at a time. However, after quite some time and quite a handful of electrons, the same interference pattern was observed.
Scientists now placed an observer near each slit. They will now know exactly where an electron passed. Yet, when the electrons were fired, again, one at a time, the pattern on the other side became two parallel lines. It was as if the electrons "knew" they were being observed.
Thus, it
appears that the very act of measuring something influences the outcome of the scenario. To put it comically, if I put an egg in the fridge, the moment I close the door, the egg could be anywhere in the universe. It could be in the freezer, the chiller, the vegetable crisper, the egg tray, the butter tray, the compressor, the washing machine, the oven, the Pacific, the Antarctic, well, it could very well be outside the Milky Way! Only by observing it, that is, opening the fridge door can I actually confirm that the egg is, actually, in the egg tray where I put it
There is, however, another theory. The
many worlds interpretation posits that, even with the box still closed, the cat is already either alive or dead. If, it turns out, the cat is already dead, then, it only means that in another universe, the cat is still alive. To put it simply, anything that could have multiple outcomes does end up with
all those outcomes happening in different universes.
Suppose I tossed a coin. In this universe, I got a head. In another universe, I got a tail. In still another universe, the coin landed on its edge (Whoa!) and in a fourth one, my evil sister punched me in the eye, caught the coin and took it with her that I'll never know what I got, save for a black eye
This is rather mind boggling but
String Theory does propose that, in the 5th dimension, we have all possibilities happening. This, of course, yields us an almost infinite number of universes, all with the same laws of physics as ours but have vastly different settings.
To give another comical example, a physicist went to Vegas and bet twenty thousand dollars on a single roll. People asked him if he was sure and what he'd do if he lost. The physicist replied, "If I lose, then, in another universe, I'd be walking away a rich man"
So... what do you guys think? When does the cat cease to be both alive and dead, and becomes strictly either alive or dead?
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