Spooky Cousins at a Distance
Join Rob and guestblogger, Thomas Kennedy, on AFM*Radio’s Event Horizon this Friday night, July 16, at 9pm EDT (that’s Saturday, 0100 UT) for a special Quantum Leap feature. Rob and Thomas, formally co-hosts of Slooh Radio’s Quantum Leap series, will discuss the latest in cosmology and astrophysics, offer tips on understanding entanglement and envisioning Higg’s Boson and Higg’s Field, and will even answer questions from the AFM chatroom and Twitter.
Guest author, Thomas Kennedy, features a twice-monthly series, Quantum Leap, wherein he guides readers through the fascinating world of quantum mechanics. This is issue 016.
Of all of the interesting paradoxes in quantum mechanics, perhaps the most publicly discussed is the notion of multiple states of reality, all possible outcomes, all at the same time, until the event is observed. Such is the nature of the discussion regarding the world’s most famous feline, “Schrodinger’s cat.”
I’ll start with a basic discussion of the Copenhagen Interpretation as defined by Wiki. “In the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics, a system stops being a superposition of states and becomes either one or the other when an observation takes place. This experiment makes apparent the fact that the nature of measurement, or observation, is not well-defined in this interpretation. The experiment can be interpreted to mean that while the box is closed, the system simultaneously exists in a superposition of the states “decayed nucleus/dead cat” and “undecayed nucleus/living cat”, and that only when the box is opened and an observation performed does the wave function collapse into one of the two states. An alternate view is that the “observation” is taken when a particle from the nucleus hits the detector. This line of thinking can be developed into objective collapse theories. In contrast, the many worlds approach denies that collapse ever occurs.”
The nature of the thought experiment is relatively well known. According to Schrodinger, “One can even set up quite ridiculous cases. A cat is penned up in a steel chamber, along with the following device (which must be secured against direct interference by the cat): 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. The psi-function of the entire system would express this by having in it the living and dead cat (pardon the expression) mixed or smeared out in equal parts.”
So where does this leave the cat? Tune in next time…
Watch for Issue 017 of Thomas’ “Quantum Leap”, on July 23, 2010.
You can access all previous issues of “Quantum Leap”, here.
Guest author, Thomas Kennedy, features a twice-monthly series, Quantum Leap, wherein he guides readers through the fascinating world of quantum mechanics. This is issue 015.
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As many of my readers know, I’ve repeatedly challenged the notion of both Dark Matter and Dark Energy as variables in the discussion regarding both the issue of angular momentum in galaxies for DM and the expansion of the Universe under DE.
Well, though the two concepts are seemingly unrelated, although I tend to find both arguments vacuous, the first nail in the DM coffin was reported on May 5th in Scientific America. I’ll excerpt the following from writer John Matson …
“An experiment looking for the signal of dark matter deep in an underground lab in Italy turned up no candidate signals in 11 days of early operation, the experimental collaboration reported in a paper posted online Monday. The underground detector, called XENON100, only recently began taking data but is already challenging prior claims and hints of dark matter signals, according to the team, which published its findings on the physics preprint repository arXiv.org.
Guest author, Thomas Kennedy, features a twice-monthly series, Quantum Leap, wherein he guides readers through the fascinating world of quantum mechanics. This is issue 014.
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*This issue is continued from Issue 013, “Chemistry“
In 1928, Paul Dirac produced equations which predicted an unthinkable thing at the time – a positive charged electron. He did not accept his own theory at the time. In 1932, in experiments with cosmic rays, Carl Anderson discovered the anti-electron, which proved Dirac’s equations. Physicists call it the positron.
For each variety of matter, there should exist a corresponding ‘opposite’ or antimatter. Physicists now know that antimatter exists. However, because matter and antimatter annihilate whenever they come in contact, antimatter does not stay around for very long. (By the way, an unsolved problem remains as to why the universe consists of mostly regular matter and not an equal amount of antimatter. Physicists call this “symmetry breaking”.)
There exists not only anti-electrons, but in 1955, physicists found the anti-proton, and later, the anti-neutron. This allows the existence for anti-atoms, a true form of antimatter.
Guest author, Thomas Kennedy, features a twice-monthly series, Quantum Leap, wherein he guides readers through the fascinating world of quantum mechanics. This is issue 013.
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*This issue is continued from Issue 012, “Uncertainty“
Note: Just as no map can equal a territory, no concept of an atom can possibly equal its nature. These models of the atom simply served as a way of thinking about them, albeit they contained limitations, as all models do.
Although the mathematical concept of the atom got better, the visual concept of the atom got worse. Regardless, even simplistic visual models can still prove useful. Chemists usually describe the atom as a simple solar system model similar to Bohr’s model, but without the different orbit shapes. The important emphasis for chemistry medium attempts to show the groupings of electrons in orbital shells. (The example above shows the first eleven elements.)
On this last day of the month that celebrates the Hubble Space Telescope‘s 20th Anniversary, as our own little “thank you” for a mission that has so eloquently revealed the magnificent cosmos to a curious space-faring species in one little corner of the Universe – we present our favorite Hubble image and why it is our favorite. Of course, because there are two of us, we have two favorite images.
The first is Rob’s favorite – Hubble’s 1995 “Deepest View of the Universe“:
“My favorite Hubble picture is an image I think about ALL the time. When Tavi asked me what my favorite was, it didn’t occur to me that a permanent fixture in my imagination, is that favorite image. This picture has changed the way I look at the nighttime sky and the way I look at us here, on this wet, rocky world. It makes my heart pound and my intuition ring inside me like a big church bell. To me, it is one of the most important images ever taken.
I heard the size of the FOV described as this: take a tennis ball and view it 100 meters away, that is the area of sky contained in the Hubble Deep Field image. Sometimes at night, when it is moonless and I am staring at the target area, near Megrez in Ursa Major, I think about how that image extends everywhere around us.”
The second is Tavi’s favorite – Hubble’s 2009 “Butterfly Emerges from Stellar Demise“:
“At first glance, Hubble’s “Butterfly Emerges from Stellar Demise” reveals the stunning complexity of a dying star; but it is the date of this image that reveals an even greater saga – the stories of yesterday’s aspirations and heartaches, today’s determination, and tomorrow’s promises.
“Butterfly Emerges from Stellar Demise” was acquired on July 27, 2009 – a full six-and-a-half years after the tragedy that originally grounded NASA’s Servicing Mission 4, just two months after that mission was finally accomplished, and a mere six days after Rob and I had the distinct privilege of meeting the very astronauts who installed the camera that took this image.
I was twenty-five years old the day that the Hubble Space Telescope was let loose from the hands of mission STS-31. I knew virtually nothing about Space and the Universe, and I’d looked through a telescope only once in my life – a borrowed dimestore version to get a closer look at “that unusual star” on my west Florida horizon. Back then, my interests were centered on exploring the wild environment of Florida and basking in the serenity of the Gulf of Mexico. It never even occurred to me that there might be a more fascinating world beyond this planet – much less, that it would ever be within my reach.
Then, in 2002, I happened upon Hubble’s 1999 image of the Ring Nebula, “Looking Down a Barrel of Gas at a Doomed Star.” It was just the image, with no real description – a mere glimpse into an entirely foreign world – but I was immediately intrigued. From that moment on, I sought a way to explore this new horizon, to somehow become part of it. I started slowly, with a pawnshop telescope, but always, I had that image in my mind and my mind on the Universe.
Today, I am immersed in all things Space, with a primary focus on encouraging others to “look up.” I know that, like me, there are many souls who’ve never imagined the intricate splendor that is our Universe, and that it takes but a sprinkling of stardust, a gentle nudge, to open their eyes the way that Hubble opened mine.
Just as one brilliantly fading star evolves into the promise of many new stars, “Butterfly Emerges from Stellar Demise” embodies the past reaching out to inspire the future. And it is Hubble that puts that splendid vision of rebirth into our hands.”
Through Hubble’s eyes, we are encouraged to look beyond the boundaries of this small, beautiful planet to experience the wonders of an entire Universe. To all the people behind the Hubble Space Telescope – from those who first dreamed of it, to the NASA and ESA Teams who made it happen, to the individuals who share the images with the world – I express my humblest and deepest gratitude.
Happy 20th Anniversary, Hubble – and thank you, Team Hubble.
Date: 10/25/2009 Views: 38
