Credit: Kat Stockton

Predicting the leaps of Schrödinger’s Cat

Researchers have deciphered one of the key mysteries of quantum mechanics — predicting sudden ‘leaps’ in a system’s state. Thus devising a method to finally rescue the most famous moggy in science history.

Yale researchers have figured out how to catch and save Schrödinger’s famous cat, the symbol of quantum superposition and unpredictability, by anticipating its jumps and acting in real time to save it from proverbial doom. In the process, they overturn years of cornerstone dogma in quantum physics.

The discovery enables researchers to set up an early warning system for imminent jumps of artificial atoms containing quantum information.

Yale researchers have found a way to catch and save Schrödinger’s famous cat, the symbol of quantum superposition and unpredictability. (Kat Stockton)

Schrödinger’s cat is a well-known and paradoxical analogy used to illustrate the concept of superposition — the ability for two opposite states to exist simultaneously — and unpredictability in quantum physics.

The idea as presented by Erwin Schrödinger is that a cat is placed in a sealed box with a radioactive source and a poison that will be triggered if an atom…