Paintings of Terror

"I think I need to learn more about this kind of quantum physics," Ke Xun sighed with his head on his hips, "I never thought that a painting dominated by gods and ghosts would talk about science. Is this a joke?"

The water on Mu Yiran's body had dried up, he put on his clothes again, and pointed to the void above his finger: "Particles are the smallest and most basic units that make up matter. All matter is composed of particles. Some physicists believe that microscopic particles All have wave-particle duality. For example, light has both wave characteristics and particle characteristics.”

Ke Xun nodded: "I understand this part."

"Here I have to mention the double-slit interference experiment of light, did you learn it in school?" Mu Yiran asked him.

Ke Xun scratched his head: "You know, I once scored an amazing 13 points in physics, and these 13 points were all obtained from multiple-choice questions... I basically read comics or fell asleep in physics class. Now that I think about it, All I can remember about physics is the rosacea on the physics teacher's face..."

Mu Yiran shook his head helplessly, pinched the back of Ke Xun's neck, and then rubbed the dog's head: "Light is composed of photons, and photons are also particles.

"The double-slit interference experiment is to put a candle in front of a piece of paper A with a small hole, and then put a piece of paper B behind the paper A, and there are two parallel, side-by-side, vertical lines on the paper B. Slit, put a curtain behind the B paper as a screen.

"The light enters from the small hole on paper A, passes through the two slits on paper B, and then projects onto the screen. What do you think the shape of the light spot projected on the screen will be?"

Ke Xun smiled: "As soon as you ask, I know that the answer is definitely not what I thought, but I will answer it as I think-according to the inertial thinking of an ignorant scumbag, what is projected on the screen should be two A long and narrow light spot like a slit on B paper."

"Light is made up of many light particles. Indeed, according to the usual thinking, a bunch of light particles go through the gap and should form two long and narrow beams of light, which are then projected onto the screen." Qin Ci interjected.

Mu Yiran nodded and continued: "However, what actually appears on the screen is a fence-like light pattern with alternate light and dark. This light pattern is caused by the superimposition of different brightnesses of light. And this different brightness The phenomenon of superposition is also caused by the 'constructive interference' and 'destructive interference' of 'waves', which is the double-slit interference phenomenon of light.

"This phenomenon and experiment just confirmed that light has both particle properties and wave properties - because 'waves' have 'constructive interference' and 'destructive interference' phenomena - that is what we call, Light has 'wave-particle duality'.

"But this experiment is not over yet. In order to further observe this phenomenon, scientists have used scientific equipment to conduct microscopic observations in order to figure out how photons interfere through the two slits.

"Then an incredible thing happened. When people use scientific equipment to observe, the interference of light disappears, and what appears on the screen becomes two long and narrow light stripes, and those light and dark grating stripes do not appear— —At this time, light seems to recover a single, particle-only property.

"After this, the researchers performed the experiment a third time, this time replacing the photons with electrons and emitting them one at a time.

"According to common sense, it is impossible for a single electron to interfere, because the so-called interference requires at least two or more numbers to produce it. Then what is projected on the screen should be a single particle state.

"However, the result is still unexpected, a single electron actually appeared interference phenomenon.

"This makes people very confused. Who is a single electron interfering with? How can a single electron enter two gaps at the same time and cause interference?"

When it came to this, Ke Xun and Qin Ci Qi Qi had an ice cream.

"Damn it..." Ke Xun rubbed his arm, "What's the situation? It's obviously a scientific phenomenon, why does it sound a little... Thinking carefully?"

"An electron is also a particle. It is already the smallest individual and unit. This means that it cannot be divided into two parts. It can only be a single part. However, how does it pass through two gaps at the same time?" Qin Ci also had suspicion in his eyes.

Mu Yiran raised his face and looked at the void above his head: "In order to know the answer to this question, the researchers installed a camera in the originally sealed device to observe how a single electron passes through the double slits at the same time and interferes.

"Next, something incredible happened—the same single-electron double-slit interference experiment was done after installing the camera, and the interference phenomenon disappeared. After taking out the camera and doing it again, the interference phenomenon reappeared.

"Such repeated experiments, no matter who is doing it or where it is done, all the results are the same, that is, when the camera is installed, the interference phenomenon disappears; when the camera is taken out, the interference phenomenon appears.

"In other words, when we are not observing it, it is in a superposition of both particles and waves, and when we are observing it, it appears as a particle. It seems that our observations, affecting the results, only We do the act of 'observation', and it will collapse from the state of wave-particle superposition into the state of particles.

"And then comes the scariest thing about quantum mechanics -- the particle, as if it's conscious, can see what we do, and as long as we're looking at it, it can perceive it and behave differently because of it.

"Then here comes the question—all matter in the universe is composed of particles, and the state of particles is determined by their 'consciousness'. Then, is everything in this universe determined by matter, or is it Determined by consciousness? Does it exist objectively or is it constructed subjectively?

"The 'consciousness' of these particles, whose consciousness is it? The subjectivity of this universe, whose subjectivity is it?

"In this world, did matter first, or consciousness first? This consciousness—whose consciousness is it?"

"Holy shit! Holy shit! I'm scared to death!" Ke Xun took a step back, put his hand on his chest, and looked at Mu Yiran in horror, "Yiran, what you said is really true A scientific conclusion in the world?! Really not fabricated in some science fiction movie?!"

Mu Yiran dragged him in front of him—he stepped on the iron plate after jumping one step back, and then looked at him calmly: "What I'm talking about is the scientific theory in the real world, but it can't be done yet. Call it the 'conclusion', after all, there are still too many mysteries in the field of quantum mechanics that have not been solved, but this theory of consciousness does exist."

"...I'm really scared to death," Ke Xun grabbed Mu Yiran's hand and rubbed his chest vigorously, "After living for more than twenty years, I was told today that this universe may be created by the consciousness of an unimaginable living body It's - it has completely subverted my cognition for the rest of my life, me, me, me, I have been completely reshaped the world view of me...

"Before entering the painting, I have always been a firm believer in materialism. Whenever I heard about gods, gods and ghosts, I would sneer at it. Even if I encountered the incident of entering the painting later, I never thought that its behind-the-scenes power could override the laws of the universe. on, the result——

"As a result, there is a theory now that tells me that there may really be a creator-like existence in this universe?! Could it be that the power behind the painting is of the same magnitude as it?! Then we are still struggling... ..."

"Ke Xun, calm down." Mu Yiran held Ke Xun's cheeks with both hands, letting him look at himself, "What kind of existence is the power behind the painting, let's not think about it now, the most important thing right now , is to find out the clues of the signature from these scientific theories closely related to this painting, let us leave this painting first."

"Okay, okay...wait for me, I'll be calm." Ke Xun leaned over and took a few deep breaths.

Mu Yiran turned his head to look at Qin Ci, and saw that he seemed to be a little bit unable to accept it, with horror still remaining on his face, and he froze in place.

"I know..." Qin Ci swallowed, and said with difficulty, "Why do you say that people who study physics are crazy... Today I only know a little bit through you, and I feel that I am going crazy. Those who have a deeper and deeper understanding of physics may encounter more confusion and unimaginable incredible things, and probably feel that they are going crazy every day."

Ke Xun turned around, wiped the sweat on his forehead that might be hot or maybe he was startled, and said, "Let's not care whether those people are crazy or not, let's just talk about it—since all the matter in the macrocosm is It is formed by the accumulation of a large number of microscopic particles, so the macroscopic matter also has that kind of quantum superposition state, right?"

"This involves the dispute between the two factions in the quantum physics world mentioned by Haowen before." Mu Yiran said, "If the macrocosm is like the particles in the microcosm, with multiple indeterminate states superimposed, then that would be It means that the macroscopic world has no laws and is completely determined by random events, because it cannot be determined and cannot be accurately measured. All possibilities are just a probability, not an exact value. Einstein and Schrödinger disagreed with this view, That's why the "Schrödinger's cat" theory was born, which is used to satirize this so-called macroscopic "quantum superposition state" and "uncertainty" or "uncertainty" theory."

"So, this program, is he in favor of the quantum superposition state in the macroscopic world, or is he satirizing this theory like Schrödinger?" Qin Ci frowned.

Mu Yiran's eyes were dark, and he spoke slowly, word by word: "In fact, before the accident of Cheng Ji's son, in the world's top scientific and technological academic journal "Nature", a scientific researcher from a certain country stated that they The 'Schrödinger's cat' state of more particles has been realized through technology, that is to say, the quantum superposition state at the macro scale is basically realized."

Qin Ci and Ke Xun were shocked again, Qin Ci said: "So you mean that the program recognizes the quantum superposition state of the macroscopic world? The title of this painting "Schrödinger's Cat" is not an antonym, but means that the program Believe that the 'Schrödinger's cat' state can exist in the macroscopic world?"

Mu Yiran nodded slightly: "Yes, that's what I think."

"So..." Ke Xun rubbed the hair on the back of his head, "We in the painting he created are likely to be affected by the consciousness in his painting. At this moment, we may really be a kind of A state of life and death?"