(QuantaMagazine) A new thought experiment is confronting the theoretical assumptions of quantum mechanics head-on and shaking the foundations of quantum physics. The experiment is decidedly strange. For example, it requires making measurements that can erase any memory of an event that was just observed. While this isn’t possible with humans, quantum computers could be used to carry out this weird experiment and potentially discriminate between the different interpretations of quantum physics.
The experiment, designed by Daniela Frauchiger and Renato Renner, of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, involves a set of assumptions that on the face of it seem entirely reasonable. But the experiment leads to contradictions, suggesting that at least one of the assumptions is wrong. The choice of which assumption to give up has implications for our understanding of the quantum world and points to the possibility that quantum mechanics is not a universal theory, and so cannot be applied to complex systems such as humans.
The three assumptions are:
1) Quantum theory is universal;
2) Quantum theory is consistent;
3) Opposite facts cannot both be true.
Frauchiger’s & Renato’s New Thought Experiment Shaking Foundations of Quantum Physics
