The Coming of the Quantum Cats can - given different social conditions - develop completely different character traits (timid or assertive, benevolent or predatory, etc.) The title refers to the famous thought-experiment known as "Schrödinger's Cat", where the outcome of a real-world event depends on a quantum event. By some interpretations, the real-world object, in this case a cat, must be in two states simultaneously until it is observed. However, the story is more closely related to the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics where all possible outcomes of an event occur, each in its own parallel universe. The same concept was treated, somewhat more pessimistically, in
Renninger negative-result experiment Renninger negative-result experiment In quantum mechanics, the Renninger negative-result experiment is a thought experiment that illustrates some of the difficulties of understanding the nature of wave function collapse and measurement in quantum mechanics. The statement is that a particle need not be detected in order for a quantum measurement to occur, and that the lack of a particle detection can also constitute a measurement. The thought experiment was first posed in 1953 by Mauritius Renninger. It can be understood to be a refinement of the paradox presented in the Mott problem. The Mott problem concerns the paradox of reconciling the