[...]... Measuring the spin of an electron, or the polarization of a photon—scratching its lottery card, so to speak—seemingly has an instantaneous effect on the outcome of a measurement of another particle some distance away The formal name for this puzzle is the EPR paradox, after its originators Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen It is the most puzzling feature of the modern formulation of physics known as quantum theory... simply multiplies up the numbers of versions of reality to produce statistics that will conform to his rules Thus if you each scratch off a spot in the same place, he creates two versions of the universe In one, you and your partner both hold a black spot; in the other you both hold a white From your point of view—that is to say, from the point of view of any one version of you the spot color is entirely... tear the card in two between you, and each take your half into one of the curtained booths at the back of the stage.” He points to two curtained cubicles rather like photo booths “Each of you should scratch a spot of your choice, then stand and hold the card above your head After a few seconds the curtains will be whisked away, and you and the audience will see immediately whether you have won Of course,... mechanism that changes the spot color depending on circumstances For there is no fixed coloring that can explain the results “But the card halves must also be in some kind of radio contact with one another If they operated independently, there is no way the colors could then always match when you scratch the same place on each One card half on its own could not tell whether the other half had that same... and down in the water, or as individual photons flung off in random directions like sparks from a firework? Clinging to the Classical / 21 actually emits two kinds of thing The first are waves as shown on the left of Figure 2-4; however, the waves themselves are completely invisible and imperceptible to us But the light source also emits photons, as shown on the right The trajectories of the photons... guided by their interactions with the invisible waves Let us return to the bowling-green picture of Figures 2-1 and 2-2 Suppose we flood the bowling green as in Figure 2-2—but now throw a bowling ball into the water The ball’s motion generates a gentle wave, and the ball travels along with the wave, being guided by it The bowling ball can obviously go through only one of the gaps in the fence, but the wave... been known that the color of light is really just the way we perceive its wavelength For example, blue light has a wavelength of approximately 4,000 Angstroms, and red light approximately 7,000 Angstroms Compton’s result verified that the momentum of indi- 22 / Schrödinger’s Rabbits vidual photons is related to the wavelength of the light involved the shorter the wavelength, the more the momentum and... that it is the same as your partner’s “If you scratch off spots 90 degrees apart, the alien again creates two versions of the universe, but this time in one version you hold a black spot and your partner a white; in the other you hold a white spot and your partner a black Again, from any individual’s viewpoint the color of their spot is unpredictable, but it will always be the opposite of their partner’s... forget the whole business In real life, we cannot escape the challenge so easily As many readers will of course have realized, the apparently extraordinary lottery cards are merely behaving in the way that all the material in our mundane, everyday world does Very similar effects can be demonstrated using the simplest particles of which our universe is built, the photon and the electron, the basic units of. .. you reckoned you had only 1 chance in 15 of winning But now the conjurer proceeds to call up more of the audience, two by two, and put them through the same procedure, 100 couples in all Out of the lot, only one couple wins—you would have expected six or seven The winning odds appear to be 1 in 100 rather than 1 in 15, and the conjurer has made a tidy profit There seems to have been some mistake in . Introducing Many- Worlds 126 10 Harnessing Many- Worlds 1: Impossible Measurements 140 11 Harnessing Many- Worlds 2: Impossible Computers 155 12 Many- Worlds Heroes and Dragons 169 13 The Terror of Many- Worlds. you. Each take your half of the card and scratch off 1 of the 60 silvered spots on the clock face to 2 / Schrödinger’s Rabbits reveal the color, either black or white. If the spots you scratch. one of the founders of the National Academy of Sciences and a leader in early American science. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bruce, Colin. Schrödinger’s rabbits : the many