QUANTUM mechanics is our most successful theory. But what does it actually mean? We may puzzle over the idea of Schr枚dinger鈥檚 cat being both alive and dead, but equally mysterious is the notion that simply observing the hapless cat creates a single reality by 鈥渃ollapsing鈥� these two quantum states into one.
Though discussed for nearly a century, this vexing problem has been studiously ignored, mostly because quantum theory works whether we understand it or not. Even fabulously successful theories are there to be questioned. After all, though the notion of an Earth-centred cosmos successfully predicted the motion of the planets, a search for a deeper explanation paved the way for the heliocentric model we now know to be correct.
Steven Weinberg, a Nobel prizewinning physicist of great stature, has reopened the debate about what the collapse of quantum states actually means (see 鈥�Quantum upgrade removes need for spooky observer鈥�). How sensational if a flaw were found in the great edifice of quantum mechanics.
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