- #1
Bharath Siva
- 6
- 0
I am not a physicist, just a mere electrical engineer (who has off late developed an interest in quantum mechanics). I have a few questions about the Schrodinger cat thought experiment and about whether quantum entangled states can be preserved indefinitely forever, at least theoretically.Please excuse my questions if they sound ridiculous.
My questions are as follows:
1. With regard to Schrodinger's original thought experiment with the cat, isn't true that as time goes to infinity, the cat HAS to be dead, whether the box is opened or not? There is a probabilistic reason for this, as time goes to infinity, the unstable radioactive source has to have emitted the particle with probability 1 and so the cat HAS to have died. So if we do not open the box at all for an infinite time, the cat HAS to be dead with probability 1 and so this leads me to believe that with time, the quantum state (i.e. the wave function) of the cat evolves to the dead state and so the cat somehow gets into an untangled state of DEAD. Is this reasoning correct? Or am I missing something?
2. The previous question leads me to believe that in general, quantum entanglement cannot be preserved for an indefinitely long time, even theoretically. At some point, the wave function of entangled particles HAS to collapse to 1 steady state with time. Is this reasoning also correct or am I again missing something?
My questions are as follows:
1. With regard to Schrodinger's original thought experiment with the cat, isn't true that as time goes to infinity, the cat HAS to be dead, whether the box is opened or not? There is a probabilistic reason for this, as time goes to infinity, the unstable radioactive source has to have emitted the particle with probability 1 and so the cat HAS to have died. So if we do not open the box at all for an infinite time, the cat HAS to be dead with probability 1 and so this leads me to believe that with time, the quantum state (i.e. the wave function) of the cat evolves to the dead state and so the cat somehow gets into an untangled state of DEAD. Is this reasoning correct? Or am I missing something?
2. The previous question leads me to believe that in general, quantum entanglement cannot be preserved for an indefinitely long time, even theoretically. At some point, the wave function of entangled particles HAS to collapse to 1 steady state with time. Is this reasoning also correct or am I again missing something?