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The Wheeler-Feynman Interpretation of the Delayed-Choice Experiment and its Consequences for Quantum Computation

Stephen Pink, Stanley Martens

Published Jul 1, 2017• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

In this paper, we shall describe the delayed-choice experiment first proposed by Wheeler and then analyze the experiment based on both our interpretation of what is happening and the Wheeler/Feynman interpretation. Our interpretation includes wave-function collapse due to a measurement, while the Wheeler/Feynman interpretation attempts to avoid wave-function collapse in a measurement, as part of their explanation, to preserve consistent unitarity. in quantum processes. We will also show that there are severe consequences for quantum computing if there is no wave function collapse due to a measurement.

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The delayed choice experiments of the type introduced by Wheeler and extended by Englert, Scully, Süssmann and Walther [ESSW], and others, have formed a rich area for investigating the puzzling behaviour of particles undergoing quantum interference. The surprise provided by the original delayed choice experiment, led Wheeler to the conclu-sion that “no phenomenon is a phenomenon until it is an observed phenomenon”, a radical explanation which implied that “the past has no existence except as it is recorded in the present”. However Bohm, Dewdney and Hiley have shown that the Bohm interpretation gives a straightforward account of the behaviour of the particle without re-sorting to such a radical explanation. The subsequent modifications of this experiment led both Aharonov and Vaidman and [ESSW] to conclude that the resulting Bohm-type trajectories in these new sit-uations produce unacceptable properties. For example, if a cavity is

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Nakka Gurappa

A new `wave-particle non-dualistic interpretation' at the single-quantum level, existing within the quantum formalism, is presented by showing the Schr\odinger wave function as an `{\it instantaneous resonant spatial mode}' where a particle moves. For the first time, the position eigenstate of a particle is identified to be related to the absolute phase of the wave function in such a way that its position eigen values always lie on a classical trajectory, proving that the `time parameter' is common to both classical and quantum mechanics. It's brought into light that the quantum formalism demands a different kind of boundary conditions to be imposed to the wave function unlike classical formalism and hence naturally yields the Born rule as a limiting case of the relative frequency of detection. This derivation of the Born rule automatically resolves the measurement problem. Also, these boundary conditions immediately expound Bohr's principle of complementarity at a single quantum level. Further, the non-duality naturally contains the required physical mechanism to elucidate why the Copenhagen interpretation is experimentally so successful. The single-quantum phenomenon is then used to unambiguously explain what's really going on in the Young double-slit experiment as anticipated by Feynmann and the same is again used to provide a causal explanation of Wheeler's delayed-choice experiment.

•Jul 1, 2019•1 citation
In this paper, we shall describe the delayed-choice experiment first proposed by Wheeler and then analyze the experiment based on both our interpretation of what is happening and the Wheeler/Feynman interpretation. Our interpretation includes wave-function collapse due to a measurement, while the Wheeler/Feynman interpretation attempts to avoid wave-function collapse in a measurement, as part of their explanation, to preserve consistent unitarity. in quantum processes. We will also show that there are severe consequences for quantum computing if there is no wave function collapse due to a measurement.
It is well known that Wheeler proposed several delayed choice experiments in order to show the impossibility to speak of the way a quantum system behaves before being detected. In a double-slit experiment, when do photons decide to travel by one way or by two ways? Delayed choice experiments seem to indicate that, strangely, it is possible to change the decision of the photons until the very last moment before they are detected. This led Wheeler to his famous sentence: No elementary quantum phenomenon is a phenomenon until it is a registered phenomenon, brought to a close by an irreversible act of amplification. Nevertheless some authors wrote that backward in time effects were needed to explain these results. I will show that in delayed choice experiments involving only one particle, a simple explanation is possible without invoking any backward in time effect. Delayed choice experiments involving entangled particles such as the so called quantum eraser can also be explained without invoking any backward in time effect but I will argue that these experiments cannot be accounted for so simply because they rise the whole problem of knowing what a measurement and a collapse are. A previously presented interpretation, Convivial Solipsism, is a natural framework for giving a simple explanation of these delayed choice experiments with entangled particles. In this paper, I show how Convivial Solipsism helps clarifying the puzzling questions raised by the collapse of the wave function of entangled systems.
Gedanken experiments help to reconcile our classical intuition with quantum mechanics and nowadays are routinely performed in the laboratory. An important open question is the quantum behavior of the controlling devices in such experiments. We propose a framework to analyze quantum-controlled experiments and illustrate it by discussing a quantum version of Wheeler's delayed-choice experiment. Using a quantum control has several consequences. First, it enables us to measure complementary phenomena with a single experimental setup, pointing to a redefinition of complementarity principle. Second, it allows us to prove there are no consistent hidden-variable theories having "particle" and "wave" as realistic properties. Finally, it shows that a photon can have a morphing behavior between particle and wave. The framework can be extended to other experiments (e.g., Bell inequality).
The delayed choice experiments of the type introduced by Wheeler and extended by Englert, Scully, Süssmann and Walther [ESSW], and others, have formed a rich area for investigating the puzzling behaviour of particles undergoing quantum interference. The surprise provided by the original delayed choice experiment, led Wheeler to the conclu-sion that “no phenomenon is a phenomenon until it is an observed phenomenon”, a radical explanation which implied that “the past has no existence except as it is recorded in the present”. However Bohm, Dewdney and Hiley have shown that the Bohm interpretation gives a straightforward account of the behaviour of the particle without re-sorting to such a radical explanation. The subsequent modifications of this experiment led both Aharonov and Vaidman and [ESSW] to conclude that the resulting Bohm-type trajectories in these new sit-uations produce unacceptable properties. For example, if a cavity is
A new `wave-particle non-dualistic interpretation' at the single-quantum level, existing within the quantum formalism, is presented by showing the Schr\odinger wave function as an `{\it instantaneous resonant spatial mode}' where a particle moves. For the first time, the position eigenstate of a particle is identified to be related to the absolute phase of the wave function in such a way that its position eigen values always lie on a classical trajectory, proving that the `time parameter' is common to both classical and quantum mechanics. It's brought into light that the quantum formalism demands a different kind of boundary conditions to be imposed to the wave function unlike classical formalism and hence naturally yields the Born rule as a limiting case of the relative frequency of detection. This derivation of the Born rule automatically resolves the measurement problem. Also, these boundary conditions immediately expound Bohr's principle of complementarity at a single quantum level. Further, the non-duality naturally contains the required physical mechanism to elucidate why the Copenhagen interpretation is experimentally so successful. The single-quantum phenomenon is then used to unambiguously explain what's really going on in the Young double-slit experiment as anticipated by Feynmann and the same is again used to provide a causal explanation of Wheeler's delayed-choice experiment.