3 ms·

I can't say I can claim any credit for the idea, no, this is what is you learn once you chase the QM rabbit hole deep enough. But it's maybe not a common explan

I can't say I can claim any credit for the idea, no, this is what is you learn once you chase the QM rabbit hole deep enough. But it's maybe not a common explanation in Intro to QM class or in popular science writing? Actually (technical nitpick) it's even more lovely than what you describe: people have done the two slit experiment with verifiably single-photon sources... and you still get interference patterns. Really, we know that only a single photon exists between source and detector for the entire lifetime of the photon, and yet you get interference. The only explanation is that it interferes with itself, which is what QM says happens. The original "Wow! QM!" two slit experiments were done with electrons, which were thought of as competely particle-like, whereas light was thought of as completely wave-light. QM of course says both are both.

geoelectric 10y ago
I've been struggling to understand double-slit. I had thought the pattern represented interference between the probability distributions of where the photon might be found (which themselves follow "wavelength" and produce wave-like behavior). With two slits you get two distinct probability distributions that overlap spatially at the screen, which when added together cause denser/less-dense areas of photon detection and looks like an interference pattern. That would have explained why streams of single photons "self-interfere" (they wouldn't--it's the underlying probability of their path that interferes with itself, so the pattern would eventually appear at any emission rate) but that seems so simplistic as to be unlikely to be the truth of the matter, especially with delayed choice and quantum erasure effects. Do you happen to know a good layman's source for a solid explanation of what we know about double slit right now? I'd really like to understand it, if only at a high level.
spacehome 10y ago
> QM of course says both are both. No, they're both something else entirely that if you look at them the right way could look like they share properties with either.

geoelectric 10y ago

I've been struggling to understand double-slit. I had thought the pattern represented interference between the probability distributions of where the photon might be found (which themselves follow "wavelength" and produce wave-like behavior). With two slits you get two distinct probability distributions that overlap spatially at the screen, which when added together cause denser/less-dense areas of photon detection and looks like an interference pattern. That would have explained why streams of single photons "self-interfere" (they wouldn't--it's the underlying probability of their path that interferes with itself, so the pattern would eventually appear at any emission rate) but that seems so simplistic as to be unlikely to be the truth of the matter, especially with delayed choice and quantum erasure effects. Do you happen to know a good layman's source for a solid explanation of what we know about double slit right now? I'd really like to understand it, if only at a high level.

spacehome 10y ago

> QM of course says both are both. No, they're both something else entirely that if you look at them the right way could look like they share properties with either.