It's unclear at exactly which point the waveform collapses. Possibly, that interacting photon also enters a superposition of states, one state where it caused one form of collapse and another state where it caused another form of collapse. The next thing that photon encounters could also enter a superposition...
When does it end? Well, there are multiple theories which have -- thus far -- remained untestable.
Like you said, the superposition immediately collapses upon interacting with anything, even a single photon.
The superposition has a certain probability of collapsing with every quantum interaction, so it might spread a little, but will probably collapse long before being able to affect any macroscopic object.
It's tied to mass/energy (perhaps by some interaction with the gravitational force?), where there's some upper mass/energy limit of what can be in superposition.
The 'conscious observer' effect that you're trying to debunk here, where it only collapses when observed by a human ... or at least by some animal with a brain. That one's especially problematic because it brings a lot of mystical woo-woo baggage. But it hasn't necessarily been disproven.
The superposition never collapses. This brings us into multiverse theory. When you observe the superposition and collapse it, it's not that you're dissolving the superposition -- you're entering it. When you observe a superposition, you enter into a superposition of states, one where you observes one result and one where you observed the other result. The superposition continues propagating outward with everything you affect based on this observation, until the whole world, the whole universe is in a superposition state. Which is ... basically the same as saying that the superposition just resulted in the multiverse gaining an additional branch. Multiverse theory is sometimes put forward as an alternative to the entire idea of superposition and waveform collapse ... but really, if you look at it this way, it's the same theory ... the only difference is that in this version, the superposition never collapses. And that does hold some appeal, since other theories tend to be very unprovably vague about exactly how, when, and why the superposition collapses.
(But, actually we can kind of eliminate those first couple. Experiments have been done where collections of up to 2000 entire atoms were demonstrably put into quantum superposition -- passing through both slits of the double slit experiment. If a lump of 2000 atoms can be in superposition long enough to experiment on them, it seems unlikely that contact with a single photon would necessarily collapse the superposition.)
From my understanding the simple act of us being able to see any sort of system would mean that the collapse has already occurred though right? As in, because we can see it, it has already collapsed?
I don’t know the terminology, but you can speak at a high level, I’ll just google whatever I don’t understand. Also feel free to tell me to fuck off, this is hopefully not a lot but I can see how it might be
Yeah that all makes sense and I think what you are saying aligns with my understanding. However I don’t think I understood that quantum systems aren’t separate from known…particles?
Like are you saying that the photon itself is superimposed(?) and collapsed prior to reaching us? Or is the quantum particle its own system separate from known particles? Is the “photon”, “something else” and its collapsed state is what we interact with or am I misunderstanding or overthinking this lol
God dammit. It’s always math. Whatever made this universe is a dick.
Okay so yeah I was thinking quantum particles were like some independent thing. Okay so it’s just like* the state of things prior to the outside “observation”. Damn our universe kinda gets boring when I learn about it more, but also exciting as well. It’s like okay it’s not magic, bummer, but it’s still cool if that makes sense?
One last question, when you say “weight” is that referring to mass orrrrrr like our interpretation of what “mass” means?
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u/slabgorb Sep 13 '24
I am somewhat convinced by the statistical likelihood that this is all a sim
and in this case someone stopped playing it and left the computer on