Paintings of Terror

"I think I need to learn more about quantum physics," Ke Xun lowered his head and sighed with his arms akimbo. "I never thought that a painting dominated by gods and ghosts still talks about science. Is this funny?"

The water on Mu Yiran's body has dried up. He put on his clothes again and pointed to the void on 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 Both have wave-particle duality. For example, light has both wave characteristics and particle characteristics."

Ke Xun nodded: "I understand this part."

"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 had an amazing score of 13 points in the physics test, and these 13 points were all covered by multiple-choice questions... In physics class, I basically read comics or went to sleep. Now think about it. About physics I can only remember the rosacea on the face of the physics teacher..."

Mu Yiran reluctantly shook his head slightly, stretched out his hand to squeeze 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 put a piece of paper B behind the paper A. On the paper B, there are two parallel and vertical lines. In the slit, a curtain is placed behind the B paper as a screen.

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

Ke Xun laughed: "When you ask this, I know that the answer is definitely not what I think, but just answer as I think-according to the inertial thinking of an ignorant learner, two should be cast on the screen. It is 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 idea, a bunch of light particles drilled through the gap should form two long narrow beams of light, and then projected onto the screen." Qin Ci interjected.

Mu Yiran nodded and continued: "However, what actually appears on the screen is a light pattern that is similar to a fence with light and dark. This light pattern is caused by the superposition of different brightness of light. And this different brightness The phenomenon of superposition is caused by the “constructive interference” and “destructive interference” of “waves”. This is the phenomenon of light double-slit interference.

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

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

"So the unthinkable happened. When people use scientific equipment to observe, the phenomenon of light interference disappears. What appears on the screen becomes two long and narrow light patterns. The light and dark raster-like fringes did not appear— —At this time, light seems to recover its single, particle-only attribute.

"After that, the researchers conducted related experiments for the third time. This time, they replaced photons with electrons and emitted only one electron at a time.

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

"However, the result was still unexpected. A single electron actually interfered.

"This makes people very confused. Whom does a single electron interfere 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 made a joke together.

"Fuck..." Ke Xun rubbed his arm. "What's the situation? It's obviously a scientific phenomenon. Why does it sound a bit...thinking about it?"

"An electron is also a particle. It is already the smallest individual and unit. This means that it can no longer be divided into two parts. It can only be a single part. But how does it pass through two gaps at the same time?" Qin Ci also had surprise 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 crossed the double slit at the same time and interfered.

"Next, something unthinkable happened-after installing the camera and doing the same single-electron double-slit interference experiment, the interference phenomenon disappeared. After taking the camera out and doing it again, the interference phenomenon appeared again.

"After repeated experiments like this, no matter who did it or where it was done, all the results were the same, that is: when the camera was installed, the interference phenomenon disappeared; when the camera was taken out, the interference phenomenon appeared.

"In other words, when we are not observing it, it is in a state of superposition of both a particle and a wave. When we observe it, it appears as a particle. It seems that our observation affects the result, only We have made the act of'observation', and it will collapse from the state of superposition of waves and particles to the state of particles.

"So the most terrifying part of quantum mechanics appeared-particles, as if they are conscious, can see our behavior, as long as we are looking at it, they can perceive it, and therefore show different results.

"Then the problem is here-all matter in the universe is composed of particles, and the state of the particles is determined by the'consciousness' it possesses. Then, all the composition in this universe is determined by matter or Determined by consciousness? Is it objectively existing or constructed subjectively?

"Whose consciousness is the ‘consciousness’ of these particles? Whose subjectivity is the subjectivity of the universe?

"Does this world first have matter or consciousness? This consciousness—whose consciousness is it?"

"Whhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I am scared to death!" Ke Xun jumped back, holding his chest with one hand, looking at Mu Yiran in horror, "Yan Ran, what you said is really reality. Are the scientific conclusions in the world?! Are they really not fabricated in some sci-fi movies?!"

Mu Yiran dragged him in front of him-he jumped a step back and stepped on the iron plate, and then looked at him calmly: "What I said is the scientific theories in the real world, but for the time being. Call it a'conclusion.' After all, there are still too many mysteries in quantum mechanics that have not been solved yet, but this theory of consciousness also exists."

"...I'm really scared to death," Ke Xun grasped Mu Yiran's hand and rubbed his chest vigorously. "After living for more than 20 years, I was suddenly told today that this universe may be created by an unimaginable living body. ——It’s almost subverted the cognition of my younger half of my life. I, I, I, I have been completely reshaped and the world view I...

"Before I entered the painting, I always insisted on materialism, but whenever I heard about gods, ghosts and ghosts, I sneered at it. Even if I encountered an event later, I never thought that its power behind the scenes could override the laws of the universe. On, the result-

"As a result, suddenly there is a theory that tells me that there may really be a creator 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 and asked him to look at himself, "What kind of existence is behind the scenes of the painting? Let's not think about it now. The most important thing is right now. It is to find clues to the signature from these scientific theories closely related to this painting, and let us leave the painting first."

"Okay, okay... Wait for me, I'm calm and calm." Ke Xun leaned back and took a few deep breaths.

Mu Yiran turned his head and looked at Qin Ci. Seeing that he was also a little unacceptable, there was still horror on his face, and his whole body froze in place.

"I know..." Qin Ci swallowed, and said with difficulty, "Why do you say that people who study physics are lunatics... Today I only know some furs through you, and I feel that I am going crazy. Those who know more about physics, I am afraid they will encounter more confusion and unimaginable things, and probably feel that they are going crazy every day."

Ke Xun turned around, wiped the sweat on his forehead that may be hot or startled, and said: "Let's just let those people go crazy or not, let's just say that in front of us-since everything in the macroscopic world is It is made up of a large number of microscopic particles, so the macroscopic matter also has that quantum superposition state, right?"

"This involves the dispute between the two schools of quantum physics that Haowen mentioned earlier." Mu Yiran said, "If the macroscopic world is like the particles in the microscopic world, there are multiple states that cannot be determined. It means that the macroscopic world is erratic and completely determined by random events, because it cannot be determined and cannot be accurately measured. All possibilities are just a probability, not a precise value. Einstein and Schrödinger disagree 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 "unpredictable" theory."

"So, with this formula, is he in favor of the quantum superposition state of the macroscopic world, or is he mocking this theory like Schrödinger?" Qin Ci narrowed his eyebrows.

Mu Yiran's eyes were slightly deep, and he spoke slowly, saying every word: "In fact, before the accident, the world's top scientific and technological journal "Nature", scientific researchers 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 has basically been realized."

Qin Ci and Ke Xun were shocked again. Qin Ci said, "So what do you mean is that the program recognizes the quantum superposition of the macroscopic world? The painting titled "Schrodinger's Cat" is not antisense, but it means that the program Believe that the'Schrodinger Cat' state can exist in the macro world?"

Mu Yiran nodded slightly: "Yes, I think so."

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