Open Thread, October 1-15, 2012

I don't have that great of a background in physics. If my understanding is correct, this just turned all of quantum mechanics on its head (if it's accurate). That doesn't seem particularly likely to me. Has anyone else seen this yet, and what do you make of it?

pragmatist14y00

I'm not sure why you think this turns quantum mechanics on its head. Could you articulate what it is about that article that conflicts strongly with your understanding of quantum mechanics? Is it the idea that one can make measurements that don't completely destroy superpositions, or is it the idea that the experimenters could use information garnered from these measurements to drive the system back to its original pre-measurement quantum state?

1Oscar_Cunningham14y

It's clever, but it doesn't do anything previously thought impossible.

2ewang14y

It's more of a quantum computing development. Perhaps a more appropriate title would be "Quantum measurements leave Schrodinger's Cat in an ambiguous state while telling us just how ambiguous the state is".

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