schrodinger's cat--collapse of the wave function

I have been relearning some theoretical physics and am just as stumped as I was back in Grad School by the Copenhagen interpretation of Quantum mechanics.

As for Schrodinger's cat --I claim that the cat is either alive or dead, not both and that you will learn this when you make the observation. In fact dosen't the cat itself constitute an observer who is observing. The observation of an outside observer is after the fact of the state of the cat (or of the decay that either triggers the demise or does not occur).

I think I do understand how a single particle (particle/wave) (neutron, photon, etc) can take multiple paths (since it is a wave after all) especially as an energy state orbit about a nucleus. I cannot believe that the wave function (probability function) collapses instantaneously as a photon knocks out an electron in a photo-electric material.

Can someone tell me why the particle is all orbits or states at once and only when you look does it assume a given state in which you find it. I claim that it was wandering around and you happened to catch it in a particular state (orbit, location) when you look. I know there is uncertainty in measurement here at this level --looking(observing, measuring) where the particle is perturbs the particle in terms of position or momentum.

Somewhere I've lost the connection between the fact that materials absorb and release energy only at discrete levels orpackets and how this relates to allowed orbits AND all of this other weirdness called Quantum mechanics.

Can someone enlighten me further ??
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All these problems have been discussed and rediscussed many times. It is difficult to give answers to your questions in a short message. I can only point to two books by Roger Penrose, "The emperor's new mind" (easier) and "Shadows of the mind" (more technical). They both deal with quantum mechanics and the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox, which opened a new field of research now leading to quantum computing. Good luck!
Tullio
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All these problems have been discussed and rediscussed many times. It is difficult to give answers to your questions in a short message...

That sounds very similar to the book margin note written by Fermat... ;-)


Is there a 'brief' answer to:

Are there any physical examples that require simultaneously all superposition states to simultaneously assert an effect?

(As opposed to possibly being there until one state is resolved by measurement.)

?


Regards,
Martin

All these problems have been discussed and rediscussed many times. It is difficult to give answers to your questions in a short message...

That sounds very similar to the book margin note written by Fermat... ;-)


Is there a 'brief' answer to:

Are there any physical examples that require simultaneously all superposition states to simultaneously assert an effect?

(As opposed to possibly being there until one state is resolved by measurement.)

?


Regards,
Martin

I would not compare myself to Fermat. Any measurement implies a reduction of the state function (a projection of the Hilbert vector on a suitable basis). Beyond this I am unable to say anything worthwhile.