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The concept of quantum superposition (or superposition for short) is very counterintuitive, as Schr##\ddot{\text{o}}##dinger noted in 1935 writing [1], “One can even set up quite ridiculous cases.” To make his point, he assumed a cat was closed out of sight in a box with a radioactive material that would decay with 50% probability within an hour. If a radioactive decay occurred, a deadly gas would be released in the box killing the cat. Since the decay was represented by a quantum wavefunction in a superposition of 50% “yes” and 50% “no” regarding the decay after one hour, the cat was also represented by a quantum wavefunction in a superposition of 50% “alive” and 50% “dead” (Figure 1). Schr##\ddot{\text{o}}##dinger wrote [1]:
The wavefunction 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.
This has become known as Schr##\ddot{\text{o}}##dinger’s Cat...
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