patentNumber: "US-IMP-5,118,440" title: "Schrödinger's Lunchbox" titleRu: "Ланчбокс Шрёдингера" filingDate: "April 1, 1971" filingDateRu: "1 апреля 1971 г." issueDate: "October 14, 1974" issueDateRu: "14 октября 1974 г." inventor: "Dr. Cornelius P. Vane" inventorRu: "д-р Корнелиус П. Вейн" inventorSlug: "cornelius-vane" classification: "Quantum Absurdities" status: "Theoretically Plausible by ~3001" abstract: "A portable insulated container for the storage and conveyance of a midday meal, configured such that the prepared contents thereof persist in a coherent quantum superposition of all permissible luncheon states until the lid is opened by the wearer, at which instant the superposition collapses to a single classical meal of the wearer's instantaneous preference. The apparatus comprises an outer enclosure (1) of vacuum-walled stainless steel, an inner decoherence-suppression cavity (2) lined with a metamaterial of negative thermal emissivity, a lid-mounted observation interlock (3) which delays wavefunction collapse until the moment of opening, and a handle-mounted preference register (4) by which the wearer's appetite is sampled at the instant of measurement." abstractRu: "Переносной теплоизолированный контейнер для хранения и переноски обеда, сконфигурированный так, что приготовленное содержимое сохраняется в когерентной квантовой суперпозиции всех допустимых обеденных состояний до момента открытия крышки носителем, в каковой момент суперпозиция коллапсирует в единственный классический обед, соответствующий мгновенному предпочтению носителя. Аппарат содержит внешнюю оболочку (1) из нержавеющей стали с вакуумными стенками, внутреннюю полость подавления декогеренции (2), выстланную метаматериалом с отрицательной тепловой излучательной способностью, смонтированную на крышке блокировку наблюдения (3), задерживающую коллапс волновой функции до момента открытия, и смонтированный на ручке регистр предпочтений (4), которым аппетит носителя выбирается в момент измерения." citations:

• "US-IMP-3,302,991"

Field of InventionОбласть изобретенияField of Invention

The present invention relates to apparatus for the storage and conveyance of a prepared midday meal, and more particularly to such apparatus as defers the determination of the meal's identity until the moment of consumption, by means of the maintenance of the meal in a coherent quantum superposition of all permissible luncheon states.

BackgroundПредпосылкиBackground

The portable luncheon container has been documented in human practice since the introduction of the wage-earning workday. The function of conventional luncheon containers, however, is restricted to the thermal and mechanical preservation of a single, predetermined meal selected by the packer at the hour of packing, typically several hours prior to the hour of consumption. The packer is accordingly required to forecast, at breakfast, the appetite he will possess at noon — a forecast which experience demonstrates to be unreliable, the packer frequently arriving at the luncheon hour in possession of a meal he no longer desires.

Prior art has attempted to mitigate this deficiency by various means, including (a) the packing of multiple meals, which produces inconvenient bulk; (b) the deferral of packing until the luncheon hour, which is impracticable for the wage-earner removed from his larder; and (c) the purchase of a meal at the luncheon hour, which is costly. None of the foregoing addresses the fundamental defect, namely that the meal must be determined in advance of the appetite it is to satisfy.

The instant invention provides a luncheon container which defers the determination of the meal until the appetite is known.

Summary of the InventionКраткое изложение изобретенияSummary of the Invention

The apparatus comprises:

• An outer enclosure (1) of vacuum-walled stainless steel, of conventional thermos construction, providing thermal isolation of the contents from the ambient environment;
• An inner decoherence-suppression cavity (2), lined throughout with a metamaterial of negative thermal emissivity, maintained at a temperature not exceeding fifteen millikelvin by means of a dilution-refrigeration unit housed within the lid, and configured to suppress the decoherence of the meal's quantum state by isolating it from all thermal, photonic, and mechanical interaction with the environment;
• A lid-mounted observation interlock (3), comprising a shutter which excludes all photons from the cavity while the lid is closed, thereby deferring the collapse of the meal's wavefunction until the instant the lid is opened;
• A handle-mounted preference register (4), comprising a galvanic appetite sensor which, at the instant of opening, samples the wearer's instantaneous luncheon preference and biases the collapse of the superposition toward the corresponding classical meal.

Detailed DescriptionПодробное описаниеDetailed Description

In operation, the packer deposits into the cavity (2) a quantity of foodstuffs in indeterminate form. Upon closure of the lid, the observation interlock (3) excludes all photons from the cavity, and the dilution-refrigeration unit reduces the cavity to a temperature at which thermal decoherence is suppressed. The contents thereupon evolve, under the Schrödinger equation, into a coherent superposition of all luncheon states permitted by the foodstuffs deposited — comprising, for a typical packing, some several thousand distinct sandwiches, a continuum of soups, and a not-inconsiderable probability amplitude of an unaccountable hard-boiled egg.

The superposition persists, undisturbed, for the duration of the morning. At the luncheon hour, the wearer grasps the handle, whereupon the preference register (4) samples his appetite. Upon opening of the lid, the observation interlock (3) admits the first photon to the cavity; the meal's wavefunction collapses; and the wearer is presented with a single, classical meal corresponding to his instantaneous preference, prepared as though to order.

The wearer is cautioned that the collapse is irreversible, and that a meal once observed cannot be returned to superposition. The wearer is further cautioned against opening the lid in a fit of indecision, as the preference register, sampling an indeterminate appetite, may return a meal of correspondingly indeterminate desirability.

ClaimsФормула изобретенияClaims

1. A luncheon container, comprising: an outer thermally-isolating enclosure; an inner decoherence-suppression cavity; an observation interlock configured to defer collapse of the contents' wavefunction until said cavity is opened; and a preference register configured to bias said collapse toward a meal corresponding to the wearer's instantaneous preference.

2. The container of claim 1, wherein said cavity is lined with a metamaterial of negative thermal emissivity and maintained at a temperature not exceeding fifteen millikelvin.

3. The container of claim 1, wherein said observation interlock comprises a photon-excluding shutter operatively coupled to the lid of said container.

4. The container of claim 1, wherein said preference register comprises a galvanic appetite sensor mounted within the handle of said container.

5. A method of luncheon, comprising the steps of: (a) depositing foodstuffs into the container of claim 1 in indeterminate form; (b) closing the lid, whereby said foodstuffs evolve into a superposition of luncheon states; (c) at the luncheon hour, grasping the handle; and (d) opening the lid, whereby a single meal corresponding to the wearer's appetite is presented.

Why This Violates Physics (For Now)Почему это нарушает физику (пока)Why This Violates Physics (For Now)

The invention as claimed is held by the Bureau to be theoretically plausible by approximately 3001, the apparatus being inconsistent with the laws of physics as presently understood.

First, the maintenance of a macroscopic object — a quantity of foodstuffs of order one hundred grams — in a coherent quantum superposition for a duration of several hours exceeds the present art by a wide margin. The decoherence time of a macroscopic object coupled to a thermal environment scales inversely with its mass and the square of its spatial extent; for a sandwich at fifteen millikelvin, the decoherence time is estimated at less than 10⁻²⁰ seconds, falling short of the required morning by some twenty-four orders of magnitude.

Second, the apparatus requires that the contents themselves exist in superposition over distinct chemical compositions — that is, that the same matter be simultaneously a cheese sandwich and a bowl of soup. No mechanism is known by which the chemical bonds of a foodstuff may be placed in superposition over mutually exclusive molecular arrangements without the expenditure of energy far exceeding that available within the lid-mounted refrigeration unit.

Third, the preference register's biasing of the collapse toward a preferred outcome is at variance with the Born rule, which holds that the outcome of a measurement is determined probabilistically by the squared amplitude of the wavefunction and not by the preferences of the observer. The Bureau notes that certain interpretations of quantum mechanics contemplate a role for the observer in the collapse of the wavefunction, but that no interpretation contemplates a role for the observer's appetite.

The Bureau accordingly holds the invention to be theoretically plausible by approximately 3001, subject to (a) the achievement of macroscopic quantum coherence over culinary timescales; and (b) a satisfactory resolution of the measurement problem that accommodates the role of hunger. Citations: Schrödinger, E., Naturwissenschaften 23, 807 (1935); Zurek, W. H., Rev. Mod. Phys. 75, 715 (2003).