Physicists have found the shortest measure to collapse a quantum state

Measuring a quantum object causes it to lose its strange quantum properties, and it only takes between 0.1 billionths and 0.1 sextillionths of a second

By Karmela Padavic-Callaghan

The collapse of the quantum wave function – in which quantum objects go from existing in many possible states at once to a concrete state understood by classical physics – does not occur instantaneously, directly challenging a long-standing understanding of quantum physics.

The most notorious example of this phenomenon is Erwin Schrödinger’s thought experiment where a cat in a box is in a quantum state that is both “dead” and “alive” at the same time. Open the box and watch…