The No Cloning Theorem

Support MinutePhysics on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/minutephysics Three Blue One Brown: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYO_jab_esuFRV4b17AJtAw Why you can’t clone Schrödinger’s cat: this video presents the full proof of the “No Cloning” Theorem in Quantum Mechanics – without any fancy math! (stereotypical qubit has been replaced with Schrödinger’s cat). The full proof relies on the linearity of quantum (aka unitary) transformations, and the tensor product of multiple systems, to show that perfect cloning is impossible (though teleportation is allowed) Thanks to everyone who supports MinutePhysics on Patreon! Link to Patreon supporters here: http://www.minutephysics.com/supporters.html REFERENCES: The No-Cloning Theorem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-cloning_theorem MinutePhysics on Schrödinger’s Cat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOYyCHGWJq4 Original No-Cloning Paper by Wootters and Zurech: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v299/n5886/abs/299802a0.html Original “Beyond No-Cloning” (ie, no-cloning workarounds) paper by Buzek & Hillery: https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9607018 Optimal Quantum Cloning paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9801009 Optimal Quantum Cloning paper II: https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9910048 Quantum Cloning: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum\_cloning The History of Schrödinger’s (& Einstein’s) Cat: http://nautil.us/issue/41/selection/how-einstein-and-schrdinger-conspired-to-kill-a-cat The Stability of Black Powder (from the Civil War!): http://www.jpyro.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Kos-806-806.pdf Proof by contradiction: http://www.personal.kent.edu/\~rmuhamma/Philosophy/Logic/ProofTheory/proof\_by\_contradictionExamples.htm MinutePhysics is on Google+ - http://bit.ly/qzEwc6 And facebook - http://facebook.com/minutephysics And twitter - @minutephysics Minute Physics provides an energetic and entertaining view of old and new problems in physics -- all in a minute! Created by Henry Reich Music by Nathaniel Schroeder