Schrödinger's cat in popular culture Schrödinger's cat in popular culture Schrödinger's cat is a thought experiment, usually described as a paradox, devised by Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger in 1935. It illustrates what he saw as the problem of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics applied to everyday objects. The thought experiment presents a cat that might be alive or dead, depending on an earlier random event. In the course of developing this experiment, he coined the term "Verschränkung" (entanglement). It was not long before science-fiction writers picked up this evocative concept, often using it in a humorous vein. Several have taken the thought experiment a
Supersymmetric quantum mechanics Supersymmetric quantum mechanics In theoretical physics, supersymmetric quantum mechanics is an area of research where mathematical concepts from high-energy physics are applied to the field of quantum mechanics. Understanding the consequences of supersymmetry has proven mathematically daunting, and it has likewise been difficult to develop theories that could account for symmetry breaking, "i.e.", the lack of observed partner particles of equal mass. To make progress on these problems, physicists developed "supersymmetric quantum mechanics", an application of the supersymmetry (SUSY) superalgebra to quantum mechanics as opposed to quantum field theory. It was hoped that studying SUSY's consequences in this simpler setting