In the classic (and morbid) Schrodinger\'s Cat thought experiment, we imagine pu
ID: 1322163 • Letter: I
Question
In the classic (and morbid) Schrodinger's Cat thought experiment, we imagine putting a cat into a box with a vial of poison which will be triggered by a quantum detectors. We set up a radioactive nucleus or an excited ion, and set up a detector to look for radiation resulting from radioactive decay or drop to the ground state. When we detect this radiation, we break a vial of cyanide, which would kill the cat. If the box is sealed away from external influence, it is commonly said that the cat is in a superposition of life or death, as a result of the uncertain time of the radiation occurring: with no-one to observe the cat, the state of its health life itself becomes uncertain in a quantum mechanical way.
Add a twist. Don't ever open the box. Explode it with a bomb instead and destroy all evidence. Did the wave function ever collapse?
Explanation / Answer
This question strikes close to the heart of The measurement problem, which is the question of what (if anything) the process of measurement represents; and is all but synonymous with the question of how one ought to interpret quantum mechanics.
As such, the answer to this question is (a) subject to debate; and (b) absent any substantial philosophical and/or technical break-throughs, entirely subjective. Nevertheless, one can consider the popular alternatives which have been suggested as conceivable answers to the problem.
Marco's earlier answer exemplifies the Bayesian interpretation of quantum mechanics: that the wavefunction does not represent the state of the system, but our knowledge of the state of the system. (I am not sure whether the 'Bayesians' actually form any opinions at all about what the state of the system actually is, if the wavefunction is entirely an object of human conception; I would perhaps na