Re: Quantum Rebel

From: Jesse Mazer <lasermazer.domain.name.hidden>
Date: Sat, 14 Aug 2004 00:18:50 -0400

Russell Standish wrote:

>The presence or absence of the absorber on path 4 changes the
>wavefunctions involved, even though the amplitude of the wavefunction
>along path 4 is zero.

How exactly does it change the wavefunctions involved? If the outcome of the
experiment is exactly the same, the amplitude-squared of the wavefunction
must be unchanged at all points, so is it just a phase shift? Have you
actually done a calculation to see how the wavefunction is changed?

>The same is true with Afshar's experiment. This
>may seem nonsensical, but its exactly what QM says happens, and this
>sort of thing has been seen often in quantum experiments. The
>Aharanov-Bohm effect comes to mind.

In the Aharonov-Bohm setup, would the charged particle's wavefunction
actually have an amplitude of zero inside the solenoid containing the
magnetic field, or is their some nonzero probability that you will observe
it inside the solenoid? If the latter, this isn't really analogous to
Afshar's experiment or Unruh's variation on it.

Jesse Mazer
Received on Sat Aug 14 2004 - 00:32:05 PDT