Crazy: In A Quantum Experiment, Scientists Witness Two Versions Of Reality Existing at the Same Time.

We are conscious of how incorrect our worldview is. How we perceive the world is influenced by our senses, our communities, and our knowledge.

And if you believe that science will always give you the truth, you might want to reconsider your position.

A theory advanced in 1961 by Nobel Prize winner Eugen Wigner is now subject to examination by physicists.

The experiment, titled “Wigner’s Friend,” is simple to set up. You start with a quantum system that is in superposition, which denotes that it is simultaneously in both states up to the point of measurement. The polarization (the axis around which a photon spins) is horizontal and vertical in this instance.

The equipment will malfunction when they attempt to measure it, leaving the photon trapped in one of these two states. Wigner’s pal is doing the experiment in the lab. But for Wigner, who is not in the lab and is unaware of the results of the experiment, the quantum system, which is significant since it also contains the lab, remains in superposition.

The solutions are distinct, yet they are both accurate. Thus, it appears that both Wigner’s reality and his friend’s reality are accurate. (This is similar to the thought experiment about a cat in a box known as Schrodinger’s cat.) That’s not good, either.

For a very long time, it has been challenging to verify this notion. Wigner finds it challenging to understand the quantum mechanics equation after witnessing his friend do an experiment. Recent developments allowed scientists to create a quantum mechanics experiment that accomplished the same result.

A cutting-edge six-photon experiment and the system’s four entangled observers demonstrated that while one component of the system performed a measurement, the other demonstrated that the measurement had not been made.

Two facts were measured at the same moment. According to the study, this supports the assertion made by quantum theories, which already incorporate observer dependency into their conceptualization.

“This calls into question the objective status of the facts established by the two observers,” the scientists write in their paper, which is available to read on ArXiv.

Can their various recordings be combined, or are they too dissimilar to be considered objective “facts of the world” regardless of the person seeing them?

We are aware of how observers alter things and their limitations, despite the fact that science is the finest instrument we have for understanding reality. Two observers might not view the same item at the same moment, according to relativity.

We learn from quantum physics that the experiment is affected by the observer. It appears as though two universes may coexist simultaneously at the quantum level.

Reference(s): MIT Technology Review