This thought experiment will help you understand quantum mechanics - Matteo Fadel

翻译人员: psjmz mz 校对人员: Helen Chang

After a long day working on the local particle accelerator,

在当地的粒子加速器工作一整天后，

you and your friends head to the arcade to unwind.

你和朋友去游乐场放松。

The lights go out for a second, and when they come back,

灯光停了几秒钟，当灯光恢复时，

there before you gleams a foosball table nobody remembers seeing before.

在你们面前出现了你们之前 没见过的一张桌上足球桌。

Always game, you insert your coins.

游戏嘛，你投入硬币。

And with a fanfare, Quantum Foosball begins.

轰鸣声中，量子桌上足球开始了。

Here are the rules: as with normal foosball,

规则如下：跟正常足球一样，

the object is to score points

目标是旋转球杆上的小球员 将球打入对方球门得分。

by spinning levers with tiny players to sink the ball in your opponent’s goal.

Only instead of a standard ball, you’ll be playing with a giant electron.

唯一不同的是这并非一个标准的球， 而是一个巨大的电子。

It behaves like a normal electron in all respects, it’s just much larger.

它的行为完全跟正常电子一样， 只是更大一些。

Though the rules are simple, gameplay is anything but.

尽管规则很简单， 但游戏玩法却远不止如此。

球的运动受量子原理支配，

Instead of the familiar laws of Newtonian physics,

the movement of the ball is governed by quantum mechanics.

而非我们熟悉的牛顿物理定律。

To minimize the influence from photons and air molecules,

为了把光子和空气分子的影响 降到最低，

you’ll be playing in a vacuum. In the dark.

你将在黑暗的真空中玩游戏。

But that’s ok, because you can watch for the flashes of light

但这也没问题，因为你可以看到

given off by collisions between figures and the ball.

球员和球的碰撞发生的闪光。

The goals themselves will flash when the electron

目标本身就会闪光，当电子

hits their particle detectors.

撞击到它们的粒子探测器时。

Now you just have to figure out how to get the electron to go where you want.

现在你只需要算出如何 让电子到你想去的地方。

As soon as it enters play, the electron will never rest.

只要它一进入游戏状态， 电子永不休息。

This is a direct consequence of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle,

这是海森堡测不准原理的直接结果，

which says that the better you know where a quantum particle is,

意思是位置测定得越准确，

the less you know about its velocity, and vice versa.

动量的测定就越不准确，反之亦然

Since you know it’s on the field, its velocity is largely uncertain.

你知道在球场中，球的速度 很大程度上是不确定的。

The electron will behave more like a wave than a particle,

电子表现出的行为更像波而非粒子，

with its position described by probability distributions that you’ll have to imagine.

你得想象它那种用概率分布 来描述的位置。

These distributions are spread throughout the entire field,

这分布在整个球场上，

making it possible to observe a goal at any time and in either side.

这使得可以随时 在任何一方看到目标。

The way to win is to control and concentrate the distribution

获胜的方法是控制和集中分布

over the opposite goal,

到对方的球门上，

giving yourself the highest likelihood of scoring points.

为自己争取最高得分的概率。

Your skill as a player will be determined by your ability to predict

作为玩家，你的技能取决于你预测

where the electron is most likely to be,

电子可能在哪里的能力，

then manipulate the probability distribution by spinning the rods

然后用适当的力度旋转棒子

with just the right amount of strength.

来操纵概率分布。

Quantum particles only receive energy in precise amounts, called quanta.

量子粒子只接收精确数量的能量， 称为量子(quanta)。

So spin too hard or too soft,

所以旋转太用力或太轻柔，

and the electron will stay on its previous course.

电子都会保持在原来的轨道。

The game board has been carefully constructed to contain the electron,

球台被精心构造以容纳电子，

but even so, sometimes it’ll quantum tunnel through the walls

但即使如此，有时电子也会在没有 任何明显原因的情况下，

without any apparent reason.

通过量子隧道穿过墙壁。

At that point it could be anywhere in the universe,

屆時它可能在宇宙的任何地方，

so to save you the trouble of tracking it down,

于是为了省得你去找它，

the game will spit out a new ball.

游戏将抛出一个新的球。

The fact that quantum particles behave like waves

量子粒子表现得像波的事实

becomes particularly evident in the presence of obstacles.

在有障碍的情况下尤其明显。

As the particle travels through the rows of miniature figures,

当粒子穿过一排排的微缩球员时，

complicated interference patterns will develop in the probability distribution,

在概率分布中将出现 复杂的干涉图案，

making it even more difficult to accurately predict its position.

使精确预测其位置变得更加困难。

And here’s where your advanced physics degree can finally come in handy:

此時你的高等物理学位 终于派上用场了：

you can use the laws of quantum mechanics to your advantage.

你可以利用量子力学定律作为武器。

The only moments when the electron will behave as a particle,

电子表现得像粒子而非波的唯一时刻

rather than a wave, are when it hits something.

是当它撞到东西时。

With frequent enough kicks,

只要踢得足够频繁，

the particle would have no time to evolve like a wave and, therefore,

粒子没时间进化成波，所以，

not spread out in space.

不会在空中展开。

So if you can pass it very quickly between two of your miniatures,

所以只要你能在 两个小球员间快速传球，

you can keep it localized.

你可以保持定位它。

Masters of the game call this the Quantum Zeno Maneuver.

游戏的大师们称之为量子芝诺策略。

Now, if you really want to dominate your opponents,

现在，如果你想碾压你的对手，

there’s one more thing you can try, but it’s pretty tricky.

还有一件事你可以试， 但这很棘手。

One of the distinctive features of the quantum world

量子世界的一个显著特征

is the possibility of state superpositions,

是状态叠加的可能性，

where particles’ positions or velocities

粒子的位置或速度

can be simultaneously in two or more different states.

可以同时处于两个 或多个不同的状态。

If you can put the electron into a superposition

如果你能让电子同时处于

of being simultaneously kicked and not kicked,

被踢和不被踢的叠加状态，

it’ll be almost impossible for your opponents to figure out

你的对手几乎不可能算出

where and how to strike.

在哪及如何打球。

It’s said that Erwin Schrödinger,

传说埃尔温·薛定谔，

有史以来最伟大的量子足球冠军，

the greatest Quantum Foosball champion of all time,

is the only player to have mastered this technique.

是唯一掌握这种技能的玩家。

But maybe you can be the second:

但也许你可以成为第二个：

Just figure out a way to simultaneously turn and not turn your rods.

只要想办法同时转动 和不转动你的杆。