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Sample Definition And Size

This paper is a translation of Erwin Schrödinger’s three-part 1935 paper “Die gegenwärtige Situation in der Quantenmechanik” (“The Present Situation in Quantum Mechanics”), translated by John D. Trimmer. It is not an empirical study and does not involve a sample or sample size.

Study Type

This is a translation and exposition of a historical theoretical physics paper, not an original empirical or experimental study; it is a scholarly translation and commentary.

Conflicts Of Interest

The translator acknowledges support from Imperial Chemical Industries, London, for the leisure to write the article, but no conflicts of interest are declared.

Results Summary

The paper presents Schrödinger’s original theoretical discussion of quantum mechanics, including the cat paradox, entanglement, measurement theory, and the epistemological implications of the psi-function. It does not report quantitative results, statistics, or empirical findings.

Abstract

This is a translation of Schr6dinger's three-part 1935 paper 1 in Die Naturzkissenschaften. Earlier that same year there had appeared the Einstein, Podolsky, Rosen paper 2 (also famous in paradoxology) which, Schrodinger says, in a footnote, motivated his offering. Along with this article in German, Schrodinger had two closely related English-language publications.3 But the German, aside from its oneparagraph presentation of the famous cat, covers additional territory and gives many fascinating insights into Schrodinger's thought. The translator's goal has been to adhere to the logical and physical content of the original, while at the same time trying to convey something of its semi-conversational, at times slightly sardonic flavor.

Referenced In

StarTalk

Season 17, Episode 4: The Copenhagen Interpretation Explained

Hey StarTalkers! Season 17, Episode 4 saw Neil, Chuck and special guest Professor Sean Carroll answering a selection of questions about cosmology and quantum mechanics. As part of this, Sean answered a question from a listener – and Neil – about the “Copenhagen Interpretation” of quantum mechanics:

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Its development saw physicists like Bohr and Heisenberg waxing philosophical about scientific language and the nature of measurement. It’s a mind-bending topic, but luckily, the famous Schrodinger’s cat thought experiment is here to help.

The Basics of Superpositions

We normally think about atoms like a mini solar system: the nucleus sits in the middle like the sun and the electrons orbit around it like planets. The electrons are in a specific place, moving a specific speed, at all times.

But in quantum mechanics, the electrons aren’t really in a definitive location. They’re represented by a wavefunction, which includes all possible locations. It basically says “there’s a 60% probability it’s over here and a 40% probability it’s over there.”

So if you ask, “where is the electron?” This isn’t so easy to answer. The electron is in a superposition of multiple places at once.

Schrodinger’s Cat and Everything Wrong with Quantum Mechanics

The Copenhagen interpretation was the accepted answer to this question for a long time. The electron is considered in both places, until it’s measured. At that point, the wavefunction collapses into one possibility, and that is what we detect in experiments.

As Sean Carroll explains, the most extreme version states that only the outcomes of the measurements are actually real. The wavefunction is just math.

But Erwin Schrodinger had problems with this.

He set up a scenario where a cat was in a box with a cruel device that smashes a bottle of poison if a radioactive atom decays. This atom is also in a superposition prior to measurement, just like the electron’s position: if we don’t measure it, the atom has both decayed and not decayed.

But what would that mean for the cat? Well, according to the Copenhagen interpretation, it would mean the cat was both alive and dead. We would only collapse the wavefunction and find out when we opened the box.

This made a lot of people, including Schrodinger and Einstein, very uneasy.

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