Philosophy and quantum physics. Quantum physics for dummies: the essence in simple words

To my shame, I want to admit that I heard this expression, but did not know what it meant or even on what topic it was used. Let me tell you what I read on the Internet about this cat... -

« Shroedinger `s cat“- this is the name of the famous thought experiment of the famous Austrian theoretical physicist Erwin Schrödinger, who is also a Nobel Prize laureate. With the help of this fictitious experiment, the scientist wanted to show the incompleteness of quantum mechanics in the transition from subatomic systems to macroscopic systems.

The original article by Erwin Schrödinger was published in 1935. In it, the experiment was described using or even personifying:

You can also construct cases in which there is quite a burlesque. Let some cat be locked in a steel chamber with the following diabolical machine (which should be regardless of the cat's intervention): inside a Geiger counter there is a tiny amount of radioactive substance, so small that only one atom can decay in an hour, but with the same most likely it may not disintegrate; if this happens, the reading tube is discharged and the relay is activated, releasing the hammer, which breaks the flask with hydrocyanic acid.

If we leave this entire system to itself for an hour, then we can say that the cat will be alive after this time, as long as the atom does not disintegrate. The very first disintegration of the atom would poison the cat. The psi-function of the system as a whole will express this by mixing or smearing a living and a dead cat (pardon the expression) in equal parts. What is typical in such cases is that uncertainty originally limited to the atomic world is transformed into macroscopic uncertainty, which can be eliminated by direct observation. This prevents us from naively accepting the “blur model” as reflecting reality. This in itself does not mean anything unclear or contradictory. There's a difference between a blurry or out-of-focus photo and a photo of clouds or fog.

In other words:

There is a box and a cat. The box contains a mechanism containing a radioactive atomic nucleus and a container of poisonous gas. The experimental parameters were selected so that the probability of nuclear decay in 1 hour is 50%. If the nucleus disintegrates, a container of gas opens and the cat dies. If the nucleus does not decay, the cat remains alive and well.
We close the cat in a box, wait an hour and ask the question: is the cat alive or dead?
Quantum mechanics seems to tell us that the atomic nucleus (and therefore the cat) is in all possible states simultaneously (see quantum superposition). Before we open the box, the cat-core system is in the state “the nucleus has decayed, the cat is dead” with a probability of 50% and in the state “the nucleus has not decayed, the cat is alive” with a probability of 50%. It turns out that the cat sitting in the box is both alive and dead at the same time.
According to the modern Copenhagen interpretation, the cat is alive/dead without any intermediate states. And the choice of the decay state of the nucleus occurs not at the moment of opening the box, but even when the nucleus enters the detector. Because the reduction of the wave function of the “cat-detector-nucleus” system is not associated with the human observer of the box, but is associated with the detector-observer of the nucleus.

According to quantum mechanics, if the nucleus of an atom is not observed, then its state is described by a mixture of two states - a decayed nucleus and an undecayed nucleus, therefore, a cat sitting in a box and personifying the nucleus of an atom is both alive and dead at the same time. If the box is opened, then the experimenter can see only one specific state - “the nucleus has decayed, the cat is dead” or “the nucleus has not decayed, the cat is alive.”

The essence in human language: Schrödinger's experiment showed that, from the point of view of quantum mechanics, the cat is both alive and dead, which cannot be. Therefore, quantum mechanics has significant flaws.

The question is: when does a system cease to exist as a mixture of two states and choose one specific one? The purpose of the experiment is to show that quantum mechanics is incomplete without some rules that indicate under what conditions the wave function collapses, and the cat either becomes dead or remains alive, but ceases to be a mixture of both. Since it is clear that a cat must be either alive or dead (there is no state intermediate between life and death), this will be similar for the atomic nucleus. It must be either decayed or undecayed ().

Another more recent interpretation of Schrödinger's thought experiment is a story that Big Bang Theory character Sheldon Cooper told his less educated neighbor Penny. The point of Sheldon's story is that the concept of Schrödinger's cat can be applied to human relationships. In order to understand what is happening between a man and a woman, what kind of relationship is between them: good or bad, you just need to open the box. Until then, the relationship is both good and bad.

Below is a video clip of this Big Bang Theory exchange between Sheldon and Penia.

Schrödinger's illustration is the best example to describe the main paradox of quantum physics: according to its laws, particles such as electrons, photons and even atoms exist in two states at the same time (“alive” and “dead”, if you remember the long-suffering cat). These states are called.

American physicist Art Hobson () from the University of Arkansas (Arkansas State University) proposed his solution to this paradox.

“Measurements in quantum physics are based on the operation of certain macroscopic devices, such as a Geiger counter, with the help of which the quantum state of microscopic systems - atoms, photons and electrons is determined. Quantum theory implies that if you connect a microscopic system (particle) to some macroscopic device that distinguishes two different states of the system, then the device (Geiger counter, for example) will go into a state of quantum entanglement and also find itself in two superpositions at the same time. However, it is impossible to observe this phenomenon directly, which makes it unacceptable,” says the physicist.

Hobson says that in Schrödinger's paradox, the cat plays the role of a macroscopic device, a Geiger counter, connected to a radioactive nucleus to determine the state of decay or “non-decay” of that nucleus. In this case, a living cat will be an indicator of “non-decay”, and a dead cat will be an indicator of decay. But according to quantum theory, the cat, like the nucleus, must exist in two superpositions of life and death.

Instead, according to the physicist, the cat's quantum state should be entangled with the state of the atom, meaning that they are in a "nonlocal relationship" with each other. That is, if the state of one of the entangled objects suddenly changes to the opposite, then the state of its pair will also change, no matter how far they are from each other. In doing so, Hobson refers to this quantum theory.

“The most interesting thing about the theory of quantum entanglement is that the change in state of both particles occurs instantly: no light or electromagnetic signal would have time to transmit information from one system to another. So you can say it's one object divided into two parts by space, no matter how great the distance between them is,” explains Hobson.

Schrödinger's cat is no longer alive and dead at the same time. He is dead if the disintegration occurs, and alive if the disintegration never happens.

Let us add that similar solutions to this paradox were proposed by three more groups of scientists over the past thirty years, but they were not taken seriously and remained unnoticed in broad scientific circles. Hobson that the solution to the paradoxes of quantum mechanics, at least theoretically, is absolutely necessary for its deep understanding.

Schrödinger

But just recently, THEORISTS EXPLAINED HOW GRAVITY KILLS SCHRODINGER'S CAT, but this is more complicated...-

As a rule, physicists explain the phenomenon that superposition is possible in the world of particles, but impossible with cats or other macro-objects, interference from the environment. When a quantum object passes through a field or interacts with random particles, it immediately assumes just one state - as if it were measured. This is exactly how the superposition is destroyed, as scientists believed.

But even if somehow it became possible to isolate a macro-object in a state of superposition from interactions with other particles and fields, it would still sooner or later take on a single state. At least this is true for processes occurring on the surface of the Earth.

“Somewhere in interstellar space, perhaps a cat would have a chance, but on Earth or near any planet this is extremely unlikely. And the reason for this is gravity,” explains the lead author of the new study, Igor Pikovsky () from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Pikovsky and his colleagues from the University of Vienna argue that gravity has a destructive effect on quantum superpositions of macro-objects, and therefore we do not observe similar phenomena in the macrocosm. The basic concept of the new hypothesis, by the way, is in the feature film “Interstellar”.

Einstein's theory of general relativity states that an extremely massive object will bend spacetime around it. Considering the situation at a smaller level, we can say that for a molecule placed near the surface of the Earth, time will pass somewhat slower than for one located in the orbit of our planet.

Due to the influence of gravity on space-time, a molecule affected by this influence will experience a deviation in its position. And this, in turn, should affect its internal energy - vibrations of particles in a molecule that change over time. If a molecule were introduced into a state of quantum superposition of two locations, then the relationship between position and internal energy would soon force the molecule to “choose” only one of the two positions in space.

“In most cases, the phenomenon of decoherence is associated with external influence, but in this case, the internal vibration of the particles interacts with the movement of the molecule itself,” explains Pikovsky.

This effect has not yet been observed because other sources of decoherence, such as magnetic fields, thermal radiation and vibrations, are typically much stronger, causing the destruction of quantum systems long before gravity does. But experimenters strive to test the hypothesis.

A similar setup could also be used to test the ability of gravity to destroy quantum systems. To do this, it will be necessary to compare vertical and horizontal interferometers: in the first, the superposition will soon disappear due to time dilation at different “heights” of the path, while in the second, the quantum superposition may remain.

sources

http://4brain.ru/blog/%D0%BA%D0%BE%D1%82-%D1%88%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0% B3%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B0-%D1%81%D1%83%D1%82%D1%8C-%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%81%D1% 82%D1%8B%D0%BC%D0%B8-%D1%81%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B8/

http://www.vesti.ru/doc.html?id=2632838

Here's a little more pseudo-scientific: for example, and here. If you don’t know yet, read about and what it is. And we’ll find out what

Quantum superposition(coherent superposition) - a superposition of states that cannot be realized simultaneously from a classical point of view; it is a superposition of alternative (mutually exclusive) states. The principle of the existence of superpositions of states is usually called in the context of quantum mechanics simply superposition principle.

It also follows from the superposition principle that all equations for wave functions (for example, the Schrödinger equation) in quantum mechanics must be linear.

Any observable quantity (for example, position, momentum or energy of a particle) is an eigenvalue of a Hermitian linear operator corresponding to a specific eigenstate of this operator, that is, a certain wave function, the action of the operator on which is reduced to multiplication by a number - the eigenvalue. A linear combination of two wave functions - operator eigenstates - will also describe the actually existing physical state of the system. However, for such a system the observed quantity will no longer have a specific value, and as a result of the measurement one of two values will be obtained with probabilities determined by the squares of the coefficients (amplitudes) with which the basis functions enter into a linear combination. (Of course, the wave function of a system can be a linear combination of more than two basis states, up to an infinite number of them).

Important consequences of quantum superposition are various interference effects (see Young's experiment, diffraction methods), and for composite systems, entangled states.

A popular example of the paradoxical behavior of quantum mechanical objects from the point of view of a macroscopic observer is Schrödinger's cat, which may represent a quantum superposition of a living and a dead cat. However, nothing is known for certain about the applicability of the superposition principle (as well as quantum mechanics in general) to macroscopic systems.

Quantum superposition (superposition of "wave functions"), despite the similarity of the mathematical formulation, should not be confused with the superposition principle for ordinary wave phenomena (fields). The ability to add quantum states does not determine the linearity of any physical systems. Superposition fields for, say, the electromagnetic case, means, for example, that from two different states of a photon one can make a state of an electromagnetic field with two photons, which is a superposition quantum can't do it. A field a superposition of the vacuum state (zero state) and a certain wave will still be the same wave, unlike quantum superpositions of 0- and 1-photon states, which are new states. Quantum superposition can be applied to such systems regardless of whether they are described by linear or nonlinear equations (that is, whether the field principle of superposition is valid or not). See Bose–Einstein statistics for the connection between quantum and field superpositions for the case of bosons.

Also, quantum (coherent) superposition should not be confused with the so-called mixed states (see density matrix) - “incoherent superposition”. These are also different things.

You've probably heard it many times about the inexplicable mysteries of quantum physics and quantum mechanics. Its laws fascinate with mysticism, and even physicists themselves admit that they do not fully understand them. On the one hand, it is interesting to understand these laws, but on the other hand, there is no time to read multi-volume and complex books on physics. I understand you very much, because I also love knowledge and the search for truth, but there is sorely not enough time for all the books. You are not alone, many curious people type in the search bar: “quantum physics for dummies, quantum mechanics for dummies, quantum physics for beginners, quantum mechanics for beginners, basics of quantum physics, basics of quantum mechanics, quantum physics for children, what is quantum Mechanics". This publication is exactly for you.

You will understand the basic concepts and paradoxes of quantum physics. From the article you will learn:

What is quantum physics and quantum mechanics?
What is interference?
What is Quantum Entanglement (or Quantum Teleportation for Dummies)? (see article)
What is the Schrödinger's Cat thought experiment? (see article)

Quantum mechanics is a part of quantum physics.

Why is it so difficult to understand these sciences? The answer is simple: quantum physics and quantum mechanics (part of quantum physics) study the laws of the microworld. And these laws are absolutely different from the laws of our macrocosm. Therefore, it is difficult for us to imagine what happens to electrons and photons in the microcosm.

An example of the difference between the laws of the macro- and microworlds: in our macroworld, if you put a ball in one of 2 boxes, then one of them will be empty, and the other will have a ball. But in the microcosm (if there is an atom instead of a ball), an atom can be in two boxes at the same time. This has been confirmed experimentally many times. Isn't it hard to wrap your head around this? But you can't argue with the facts.

One more example. You took a photograph of a fast racing red sports car and in the photo you saw a blurry horizontal stripe, as if the car was located at several points in space at the time of the photo. Despite what you see in the photo, you are still sure that the car was in one specific place in space. In the micro world, everything is different. An electron that rotates around the nucleus of an atom does not actually rotate, but is located simultaneously at all points of the sphere around the nucleus of an atom. Like a loosely wound ball of fluffy wool. This concept in physics is called "electronic cloud" .

A short excursion into history. Scientists first thought about the quantum world when, in 1900, German physicist Max Planck tried to figure out why metals change color when heated. It was he who introduced the concept of quantum. Until then, scientists thought that light traveled continuously. The first person to take Planck's discovery seriously was the then unknown Albert Einstein. He realized that light is not just a wave. Sometimes he behaves like a particle. Einstein received the Nobel Prize for his discovery that light is emitted in portions, quanta. A quantum of light is called a photon ( photon, Wikipedia) .

To make it easier to understand the laws of quantum physicists And mechanics (Wikipedia), we must, in a sense, abstract from the laws of classical physics that are familiar to us. And imagine that you dived, like Alice, into the rabbit hole, into Wonderland.

And here is a cartoon for children and adults. Describes the fundamental experiment of quantum mechanics with 2 slits and an observer. Lasts only 5 minutes. Watch it before we dive into the fundamental questions and concepts of quantum physics.

Quantum physics for dummies video. In the cartoon, pay attention to the “eye” of the observer. It has become a serious mystery for physicists.

What is interference?

At the beginning of the cartoon, using the example of a liquid, it was shown how waves behave - alternating dark and light vertical stripes appear on the screen behind a plate with slits. And in the case when discrete particles (for example, pebbles) are “shot” at the plate, they fly through 2 slits and land on the screen directly opposite the slits. And they “draw” only 2 vertical stripes on the screen.

Interference of light- This is the “wave” behavior of light, when the screen displays many alternating bright and dark vertical stripes. Also these vertical stripes called interference pattern.

In our macrocosm, we often observe that light behaves like a wave. If you place your hand in front of a candle, then on the wall there will be not a clear shadow from your hand, but with blurry contours.

So, it's not all that complicated! It is now quite clear to us that light has a wave nature and if 2 slits are illuminated with light, then on the screen behind them we will see an interference pattern. Now let's look at the 2nd experiment. This is the famous Stern-Gerlach experiment (which was carried out in the 20s of the last century).

The installation described in the cartoon was not shined with light, but “shot” with electrons (as individual particles). Then, at the beginning of the last century, physicists around the world believed that electrons are elementary particles of matter and should not have a wave nature, but the same as pebbles. After all, electrons are elementary particles of matter, right? That is, if you “throw” them into 2 slits, like pebbles, then on the screen behind the slits we should see 2 vertical stripes.

But... The result was stunning. Scientists saw an interference pattern - many vertical stripes. That is, electrons, like light, can also have a wave nature and can interfere. On the other hand, it became clear that light is not only a wave, but also a bit of a particle - a photon (from the historical background at the beginning of the article, we learned that Einstein received the Nobel Prize for this discovery).

Maybe you remember, at school we were told in physics about "wave-particle duality"? It means that when we are talking about very small particles (atoms, electrons) of the microcosm, then They are both waves and particles

Today you and I are so smart and we understand that the 2 experiments described above - shooting with electrons and illuminating slits with light - are the same thing. Because we shoot quantum particles at the slits. We now know that both light and electrons are of a quantum nature, that they are both waves and particles at the same time. And at the beginning of the 20th century, the results of this experiment were a sensation.

Attention! Now let's move on to a more subtle issue.

We shine a stream of photons (electrons) onto our slits and see an interference pattern (vertical stripes) behind the slits on the screen. It is clear. But we are interested in seeing how each of the electrons flies through the slot.

Presumably, one electron flies into the left slot, the other into the right. But then 2 vertical stripes should appear on the screen directly opposite the slots. Why does an interference pattern occur? Maybe the electrons somehow interact with each other already on the screen after flying through the slits. And the result is a wave pattern like this. How can we keep track of this?

We will throw electrons not in a beam, but one at a time. Let's throw it, wait, let's throw the next one. Now that the electron is flying alone, it will no longer be able to interact with other electrons on the screen. We will register each electron on the screen after the throw. One or two, of course, will not “paint” a clear picture for us. But when we send a lot of them into the slits one at a time, we will notice... oh horror - they again “drew” an interference wave pattern!

We are slowly starting to go crazy. After all, we expected that there would be 2 vertical stripes opposite the slots! It turns out that when we threw photons one at a time, each of them passed, as it were, through 2 slits at the same time and interfered with itself. Fantastic! Let's return to explaining this phenomenon in the next section.

What is spin and superposition?

We now know what interference is. This is the wave behavior of micro particles - photons, electrons, other micro particles (for simplicity, let's call them photons from now on).

As a result of the experiment, when we threw 1 photon into 2 slits, we realized that it seemed to fly through two slits at the same time. Otherwise, how can we explain the interference pattern on the screen?

But how can we imagine a photon flying through two slits at the same time? There are 2 options.

1st option: a photon, like a wave (like water) “floats” through 2 slits at the same time
2nd option: a photon, like a particle, flies simultaneously along 2 trajectories (not even two, but all at once)

In principle, these statements are equivalent. We arrived at the “path integral”. This is Richard Feynman's formulation of quantum mechanics.

By the way, exactly Richard Feynman there is a well-known expression that We can confidently say that no one understands quantum mechanics

But this expression of his worked at the beginning of the century. But now we are smart and know that a photon can behave both as a particle and as a wave. That he can, in some way incomprehensible to us, fly through 2 slits at the same time. Therefore, it will be easy for us to understand the following important statement of quantum mechanics:

Strictly speaking, quantum mechanics tells us that this photon behavior is the rule, not the exception. Any quantum particle is, as a rule, in several states or at several points in space simultaneously.

Objects of the macroworld can only be in one specific place and in one specific state. But a quantum particle exists according to its own laws. And she doesn’t even care that we don’t understand them. That's the point.

We just have to admit, as an axiom, that the “superposition” of a quantum object means that it can be on 2 or more trajectories at the same time, in 2 or more points at the same time

The same applies to another photon parameter – spin (its own angular momentum). Spin is a vector. A quantum object can be thought of as a microscopic magnet. We are accustomed to the fact that the magnet vector (spin) is either directed up or down. But the electron or photon again tells us: “Guys, we don’t care what you’re used to, we can be in both spin states at once (vector up, vector down), just like we can be on 2 trajectories at the same time or at 2 points at the same time!

What is "measurement" or "wavefunction collapse"?

There is little left for us to understand what “measurement” is and what “wave function collapse” is.

Wave function is a description of the state of a quantum object (our photon or electron).

Suppose we have an electron, it flies to itself in an indefinite state, its spin is directed both up and down at the same time. We need to measure his condition.

Let's measure using a magnetic field: electrons whose spin was directed in the direction of the field will deviate in one direction, and electrons whose spin is directed against the field - in the other. More photons can be directed into a polarizing filter. If the spin (polarization) of the photon is +1, it passes through the filter, but if it is -1, then it does not.

Stop! Here you will inevitably have a question: Before the measurement, the electron did not have any specific spin direction, right? He was in all states at the same time, wasn't he?

This is the trick and sensation of quantum mechanics. As long as you do not measure the state of a quantum object, it can rotate in any direction (have any direction of the vector of its own angular momentum - spin). But at the moment when you measured his state, he seems to be making a decision which spin vector to accept.

This quantum object is so cool - it makes decisions about its state. And we cannot predict in advance what decision it will make when it flies into the magnetic field in which we measure it. The probability that he will decide to have a spin vector “up” or “down” is 50 to 50%. But as soon as he decides, he is in a certain state with a specific spin direction. The reason for his decision is our “dimension”!

This is called " collapse of the wave function". The wave function before the measurement was uncertain, i.e. the electron spin vector was simultaneously in all directions; after the measurement, the electron recorded a certain direction of its spin vector.

Attention! An excellent example for understanding is an association from our macrocosm:

Spin a coin on the table like a spinning top. While the coin is spinning, it does not have a specific meaning - heads or tails. But as soon as you decide to “measure” this value and slam the coin with your hand, that’s when you get the specific state of the coin - heads or tails. Now imagine that this coin decides which value to “show” you - heads or tails. The electron behaves in approximately the same way.

Now remember the experiment shown at the end of the cartoon. When photons were passed through the slits, they behaved like a wave and showed an interference pattern on the screen. And when scientists wanted to record (measure) the moment of photons flying through the slit and placed an “observer” behind the screen, the photons began to behave not like waves, but like particles. And they “drew” 2 vertical stripes on the screen. Those. at the moment of measurement or observation, quantum objects themselves choose what state they should be in.

Fantastic! Is not it?

But that is not all. Finally we We got to the most interesting part.

But... it seems to me that there will be an overload of information, so we will consider these 2 concepts in separate posts:

What's happened ?
What is a thought experiment.

Now, do you want the information to be sorted out? Watch the documentary produced by the Canadian Institute of Theoretical Physics. In it, in 20 minutes, you will be very briefly and in chronological order told about all the discoveries of quantum physics, starting with Planck’s discovery in 1900. And then they will tell you what practical developments are currently being carried out on the basis of knowledge in quantum physics: from the most accurate atomic clocks to super-fast calculations of a quantum computer. I highly recommend watching this film.

See you!

I wish everyone inspiration for all their plans and projects!

P.S.2 Write your questions and thoughts in the comments. Write, what other questions on quantum physics are you interested in?

P.S.3 Subscribe to the blog - the subscription form is under the article.

· Hamiltonian · Old quantum theory

Fundamental Concepts
Quantum state · Quantum observable · Wave function · Quantum superposition· Quantum entanglement · Mixed state · Measurement · Uncertainty · Pauli's principle · Dualism · Decoherence · Ehrenfest's theorem · Tunnel effect

Experiments
Davisson-Germer experiment · Popper experiment · Stern-Gerlach experiment · Young experiment · Bell's inequalities test · Photoelectric effect · Compton effect

Formulations
Schrödinger representation · Heisenberg representation · Interaction representation · Matrix quantum mechanics · Path integrals · Feynman diagrams

Equations
Schrödinger equation · Pauli equation · Klein-Gordon equation · Dirac equation · Schwinger-Tomonaga equation · Von Neumann equation · Bloch equation · Lindblad equation · Heisenberg equation

Interpretations
Copenhagen · Hidden parameter theory · Many-worlds · De Broglie-Bohm theory

Development of the theory
Quantum field theory · Quantum electrodynamics · Glashow-Weinberg-Salam theory · Quantum chromodynamics · Standard Model · Quantum gravity

Famous scientists
Planck · Einstein · Schrödinger · Heisenberg · Jordan · Bohr · Pauli · Dirac · Fock · Born · de Broglie · Landau · Feynman · Bohm · Everett

Differences from other superpositions

Quantum superposition (superposition of “wave functions”), despite the similarity of the mathematical formulation, should not be confused with the principle of superposition for ordinary wave phenomena (fields). The ability to add quantum states does not determine the linearity of any physical systems. Superposition fields for, say, the electromagnetic case, means, for example, that from two different states of a photon one can make a state of an electromagnetic field with two photons, which is a superposition quantum can't do it. A field a superposition of the vacuum state (zero state) and a certain wave will still be the same wave, unlike quantum superpositions of 0- and 1-photon states, which are new states. Quantum superposition can be applied to such systems regardless of whether they are described by linear or nonlinear equations (that is, whether the field principle of superposition is valid or not). See Bose–Einstein statistics for the connection between quantum and field superpositions for the case of bosons.

Also, quantum (coherent) superposition should not be confused with the so-called mixed states (see density matrix) - “incoherent superposition”. These are also different things.

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Notes

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The most famous formula from general relativity is the law of conservation of energy-mass

This is a draft article on physics. You can help the project by adding to it.

Excerpt characterizing Quantum superposition

My heart suddenly ached bitterly and painfully... This means that at all times there were bright and strong people who courageously, but hopelessly fought for the happiness and future of humanity! And they all, as a rule, died... What was the reason for such cruel injustice?.. What was the reason for such repeated deaths?
– Tell me, Sever, why do the purest and strongest always die?.. I know that I have already asked you this question... But I still cannot understand, do people really not see how beautiful and joyful she would be life, would they listen to at least one of those who fought so ardently for them?! Are you really right, and the Earth is so blind that it is too early to root for it?!.. Is it too early to fight?..
Shaking his head sadly, Sever smiled affectionately.
– You yourself know the answer to this question, Isidora... But you won’t give up, even if such a cruel truth scares you? You are a Warrior and you will remain one. Otherwise, you would have betrayed yourself, and the meaning of life would have been lost forever to you. We are what we ARE. And no matter how hard we try to change, our core (or our foundation) will still remain the same as our ESSENCE truly is. After all, if a person is still “blind”, he still has hope of regaining his sight one day, right? Or if his brain is still asleep, he may still wake up someday. But if a person is essentially “rotten”, then no matter how good he tries to be, his rotten soul still creeps out one fine day... and kills any attempt he makes to look better. But if a Man is truly honest and brave, neither the fear of pain nor the most evil threats will break him, since his soul, his ESSENCE, will forever remain as brave and as pure, no matter how mercilessly and cruelly he suffers. But his whole trouble and weakness is that since this Man is truly Pure, he cannot see betrayal and meanness even before it becomes obvious, and when it is not too late to do anything... He cannot do this provide for, since these low feelings are completely absent in him. Therefore, the brightest and bravest people on Earth will always die, Isidora. And this will continue until EVERY earthly person sees the light and understands that life is not given for nothing, that we must fight for beauty, and that the Earth will not become better until he fills it with his goodness and decorates it with his work, no matter how small or insignificant it may be.

But as I already told you, Isidora, you will have to wait for this for a very long time, because for now a person thinks only about his personal well-being, without even thinking about why he came to Earth, why he was born on it... For every LIFE , no matter how insignificant it may seem, comes to Earth for a specific purpose. For the most part - to make our common HOME better and happier, more powerful and wiser.
“Do you think the average person will ever be interested in the common good?” After all, many people completely lack this concept. How to teach them, North?..
– This cannot be taught, Isidora. People must have a need for Light, a need for Good. They themselves must want change. For what is given by force, a person instinctively tries to quickly reject, without even trying to understand anything. But we digress, Isidora. Do you want me to continue the story of Radomir and Magdalena?
I nodded affirmatively, deeply regretting in my heart that I couldn’t have a conversation with him so simply and calmly, without worrying about the last minutes of my crippled life allotted to me by fate and without thinking with horror about the misfortune looming over Anna...
– The Bible writes a lot about John the Baptist. Was he truly with Radomir and the Knights of the Temple? His image is so amazingly good that it sometimes made one doubt whether John was the real figure? Can you answer, North?
North smiled warmly, apparently remembering something very pleasant and dear to him...
– John was wise and kind, like a big warm sun... He was a father to everyone who walked with him, their teacher and friend... He was valued, obeyed and loved. But he was never the young and amazingly handsome young man that artists usually painted him as. John at that time was already an elderly sorcerer, but still very strong and persistent. Gray-haired and tall, he looked more like a mighty epic warrior than an amazingly handsome and gentle young man. He wore very long hair, as did everyone else who was with Radomir.

It was Radan, he was truly extraordinarily handsome. He, like Radomir, lived in Meteora from an early age, next to his mother, Sorceress Maria. Remember, Isidora, how many paintings there are in which Mary is painted with two, almost the same age, babies. For some reason, all the famous artists painted them, perhaps without even understanding WHO their brush really depicted... And what is most interesting is that it is Radan that Maria looks at in all these paintings. Apparently even then, while still a baby, Radan was already as cheerful and attractive as he remained throughout his short life...

Quantum superposition is a superposition of mutually exclusive states. A theoretical example of such a superposition is the Schrödinger's cat thought experiment. According to its terms, a cat placed in a closed box with a radioactive substance, the probability of decay of which is unknown, and hydrocyanic acid, can appear to a macroscopic observer both alive and dead. In practice, quantum superposition is implemented, for example, in qubits - data storage elements in quantum computers.

In a new study, scientists captured the quantum superposition of diatomic molecules of iodine gas using the LCLS X-ray free electron laser. Being in free movement, the molecules of the substance were split into excited and neutral atoms due to the absorption of energy. The LCLS radiation removed the latter from each other and recombined them in the form of an x-ray pattern in 30 femtosecond increments. The minimum step for the movement of molecules in different images was 0.3 angstroms (0.03 nanometers) - less than the width of an atom.

It is emphasized that the electron impact of the laser pulse directly touched only 4–5 percent of the molecules, but, from the point of view of quantum mechanics, excited all the molecules of the substance by analogy with “Schrödinger’s cat.” The fact of quantum superposition was confirmed by the LCLS detection of reflected radiation from both states of molecules simultaneously. On the X-ray diffraction pattern it looked like a series of concentric rings, brighter at the stage of synchronization of intermolecular vibrations, and darker at the stage of desynchronization.

“First, the molecule vibrates, and its atoms are deflected to the side and move away from each other. Then the connection between the atoms is broken, and they fall into the void. However, the connection is still maintained. The atoms remain at a distance from each other for some time before returning to their original state. Gradually, the vibration of the molecule is leveled out, and the molecule returns to a state of rest. The whole process lasts no more than trillionths of a second,” Professor Phil Bucksbaum described the phenomenon.

He added that if there was a break in the interatomic bond, recording a quantum superposition would be impossible. The team was the first to use intense ultrashort pulses of coherent radiation for such purposes. Meanwhile, the described technique can be used not only in future, but also in past studies, the scientists noted. They also expressed their readiness to continue filming “molecular cinema” in other areas, for example, in biology - to study the mechanisms of DNA protection from ultraviolet radiation.

"Molecular Cinema" produced by LCLS. Blue dots are excited atoms, red dots are neutral atoms existing simultaneously. © J. M. Glownia et al