OALib

An Improved “Interference Collapse Rule” of Quantum Mechanics

Hans H. Diel

Published Jan 1, 2015• 3 citations

Abstract

The double-slit (gedanken-) experiment is the most famous experiment in quantum theory (QT).The explanation of the strange behavior of the electron in this experiment is used as a key example in QT in general.The description of the experiment includes a rationalization of when in quantum mechanics interference occurs and (most importantly) when it "collapses".The aforementioned rule, here called the "interference collapse rule", is contained in almost all textbooks of QT with only slight variations.However, this rule makes sense only with additional assumptions which apparently are not generally agreed upon among physicists.The paper proposes an improved interference collapse rule that connects the interference collapse to the QT measurement and a functional interpretation of QT measurement.

DOI: 10.4236/oalib.1101838

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OALib

An Improved “Interference Collapse Rule” of Quantum Mechanics

Hans H. Diel

Published Jan 1, 2015• 3 citations

Publisher

Abstract

DOI: 10.4236/oalib.1101838

Related papers

Quantum interference of molecules -- probing the wave nature of matter

Anu Venugopalan

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Fares Al-Sharabi

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ψ_{1} + ψ_{2}

for the wave function of the double-slit experiment is numerically correct, but logically flawed. It has to be replaced in the interference region by the logically correct expression

ψ'_{1} + ψ'_{2}

, which has the same numerical value as

ψ_{1} + ψ_{2}

, such that

ψ'_{1} + ψ'_{2} = ψ_{1} + ψ_{2}

, but with

ψ'_{1} = {ψ_{1} +ψ_{2}\over{\sqrt{2}}} \,e^{\imath {π\over{4}}} \neq ψ_{1}

and

ψ'_{2} = {ψ_{1} +ψ_{2}\over{\sqrt{2}}}\,e^{-\imath {π\over{4}}}\neq ψ_{2}

. Here

ψ'_{1}

and

ψ'_{2}

are the correct contributions from the slits to the total wave function

ψ'_{1} + ψ'_{2}

. We have then $p = |ψ'_{1} + ψ'_{2}|^{2} = |ψ'_{1}|^{2} + |ψ'_{2}|^{2} = p_{1}+p_{2} $ such that the paradox that quantum mechanics (QM) would not follow the traditional rules of probability calculus disappears.