A team of researchers has made a groundbreaking discovery that defies conventional wisdom about quantum states and temperature. They successfully created “hot” Schrödinger cat states, which exist in multiple states simultaneously until measured, even at temperatures as high as 1.8 Kelvin (-271.3°C). This achievement is significant because it challenges the notion that high temperatures destroy quantum effects.
The concept of Schrödinger’s cat was introduced by Erwin Schrödinger in 1935 to illustrate a quantum state where particles can exist in multiple states at once until observed. Traditionally, these states were only accessible at extremely low temperatures, near millikelvin levels. However, the researchers have developed protocols that allow them to create hot Schrödinger cats using modified versions of two techniques: echoed conditional displacement and quantum control mapping.
These protocols involve creating a desired quantum state with reduced errors by displacing it in one direction and then refining it through an echo, or entangling one quantum object with another for controlled manipulation. The study authors successfully applied these techniques to a transmon qubit within a superconducting microwave resonator, achieving the remarkable feat of sustaining Schrödinger’s cat states at 1.8 Kelvin.
The findings have far-reaching implications, as they suggest that it is possible to observe and use quantum phenomena even in less-than-ideal environments. The researchers believe that by creating the necessary interactions in a system, temperature becomes irrelevant. This breakthrough could pave the way for more practical applications of quantum technologies, potentially expanding their scope from laboratory conditions to real-world settings.
The study was published in Science Advances and has sparked excitement among physicists, as it opens up new avenues for exploring the properties of quantum states under different conditions.
Source: https://www.yahoo.com/news/quantum-shock-schr-dinger-cat-105942496.html