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Discussion on the speed of interference: Transient phenomena in delayed-choice experiments

Masanori Sato

Published Jul 31, 2006• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

Signaling by a delayed-choice experimental setup was discussed in the previous report [M. Sato, quant-ph/0409059]. In this report, the speed of the interference pattern generation in Wheeler's delayed-choice experiment is discussed, and a feasible experimental proposal is provided. The duality of locality and nonlocality obviously appears in the de Broglie-Bohm picture. Locality corresponds to the particle property and nonlocality corresponds to the wave property. The interference of a photon can be recognized using the de Broglie-Bohm picture. A photon moves at the speed of light, however the speed of the interference pattern formation, which is conducted by a quantum potential, is not seen to be restricted by the speed of light.

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Signaling by a delayed-choice experimental setup was discussed in the previous report [M. Sato, quant-ph/0409059]. In this report, the speed of the interference pattern generation in Wheeler's delayed-choice experiment is discussed, and a feasible experimental proposal is provided. The duality of locality and nonlocality obviously appears in the de Broglie-Bohm picture. Locality corresponds to the particle property and nonlocality corresponds to the wave property. The interference of a photon can be recognized using the de Broglie-Bohm picture. A photon moves at the speed of light, however the speed of the interference pattern formation, which is conducted by a quantum potential, is not seen to be restricted by the speed of light.
We propose a new signaling system using the experimental setup of Wheeler's delayed-choice experiment previously carried out. In the delayed-choice experiment, the experimental setup shows a wave property or a particle property at the time when the experimental conditions of the wave-particle duality of photons are chosen. Choice signals can be used as transmitting signals and the wave-particle duality of photons is used as receiving signals. For example, if we choose the wave property of a photon as a transmitting signal, we detect the interference of the wave at the detector that can be used as a receiving signal. Therefore, the experimental setup of the delayed-choice experiment can transmit information through interference.
Wheeler’s gedanken experiment is the most fascinating and subtle illustration of wave-particle duality [1]. If we consider a single-photon light pulse in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, one can either measure the interference at the output – evidencing the “wave-like” behavior of the photon- or one can detect the path followed by the photon – evidencing its “particle-like” behavior. In order to pinpoint how surprising this is, John Wheeler considered a “delayed-choice” regime where the choice of measuring either property is done only after the photon has entered the interferometer.
Wheeler's delayed-choice experiment highlights strange features of quantum theory such as pre-sensing of the experimental setup by the quantum object and the role of time. A recent proposal for such an experiment with an interferometer having a quantum beam splitter (QBS) [R. Ionicioiu and D. R. Terno, Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 230406 (2011)] and its subsequent experimental implementations through photonics and NMR have produced results including the modification in the concept of complementarity. Here we propose a matter-wave Mach-Zehnder-Bragg cavity-QED interferometric setup with final QBS engineered through a cavity field that is taken initially in the superposition of zero and one photon. The setup operates through first-order off-resonant Bragg diffraction of the neutral atoms from the cavity fields with the matter wave's particle (wave) nature marked through the absence (presence) of a photon in the final cavity. The proposal, addressing the issue through atomic de Broglie waves, can be executed within the present cavity-QED experimental scenario with appreciable success probability and fidelity.
Wheeler's delayed-choice experiment was conceived to illustrate the paradoxical nature of wave-particle duality in quantum mechanics. In the experiment, quantum light can exhibit either wavelike interference patterns or particlelike anticorrelations, depending upon the (possibly delayed) choice of the experimenter. A variant known as the quantum eraser uses entangled light to recover the lost interference in a seemingly nonlocal and retrocausal manner. Although it is believed that this behavior is incompatible with classical physics, here we show that, using postselection, the observed quantum phenomena can be reproduced by adopting a simple deterministic detector model and supposing the existence of a random zero-point electromagnetic field.
I discuss the delayed choice quantum eraser experiment by drawing an analogy to a Bell-type measurement and giving a straightforward account in standard quantum mechanics. The delayed choice quantum eraser experiment turns out to resemble a Bell-type scenario in which the resolution of the paradox is rather trivial, and so there really is no mystery. At first glance, the experiment suggests that measurements on one part of an entangled photon pair (the idler) can be employed to control whether the measurement outcome of the other part of the photon pair (the signal) produces interference fringes at a screen after being sent through a double slit. Significantly, the choice whether there is interference or not can be made long after the signal photon encounters the screen. The results of the experiment have been alleged to invoke some sort of backwards in time influence. I argue that this issue can be eliminated by taking into proper account the role of the signal photon. Likewise, in the de Broglie–Bohm picture the trajectories of the particle can be given a well-defined description at any instant of time during the experiment. Thus, it is again clear that there is no need to resort to any kind of backwards in time influence. Quanta 2019; 8: 44-56.