LAB2

In collaboration with Arnold Jan

Lab 2 Installation: Cat in the box

Schrödinger's cat

Schrödinger's cat is a thought experiment, sometimes described as a paradox, devised by Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger in 1935. It illustrates what he saw as the problem of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics applied to everyday objects. The scenario presents a cat that might be alive or dead, depending on an earlier random event. The thought experiment is also often featured in theoretical discussions of the interpretation of quantum mechanics. In the course of developing this experiment, Schrödinger coined the term Verschränkung (entanglement).

The thought experiment

A cat is put in a box, along with a deadly device. In a Geiger counter, there is a tiny bit of radioactive substance, so small that perhaps in the course of the hour, one of the atoms decays, but also, with equal probability, perhaps none. If it happens, the counter tube discharges, and through a relay releases a hammer that shatters a small flask of hydrocyanic acid. If one has left this entire system to itself for an hour, one would say that the cat still lives if meanwhile no atom has decayed. But there is also a possibility that the cat is dead. You will never know for sure. Therefore the cat is dead and alive at the same time.

The installation

We constructed an installation that is inspired by the Schrödinger's cat thought experiment. In our installation the cat exists in two parallel universes. The state of the cat, dead or alive, can be observed and changed in the universe outside of the box. The state of the cat inside the box is uncertain. There is some entanglement because when you change the state of the cat outside the box something inside also changes. The cat can be observed by a webcam, directly with your eyes, through a hole, through a mirror. Maybe the way we observe the cat has influence on the state and location of the cat. But we can never be sure.