Testing Born's rule with photoionization of helium

S. Danzan, B. Zhadamba, Ts. Sukhbaatar +2 more

Peter Robert Förderer, Andreas Buchleitner, David Busto +1 more

Abstract State-of-the-art attosecond photoionization experiments are identified as a new platform to test Born’s rule—a postulate of quantum mechanics. A simulation of the so-called Sorkin test under typical experimental conditions infers an achievable measurement precision in the range of the best Sorkin tests to date, demonstrating new opportunities for high-precision tests of Born’s rule via nonlinear matter-wave interferometry. The potential of attosecond photoionization for further fundamental tests of quantum mechanics is discussed.

Hans Kleinpoppen, Bernd Lohmann, Alexei N. Grum-Grzhimailo

Peter Robert Förderer, Andreas Buchleitner, David Busto +1 more

It is shown how state-of-the-art attosecond photoionization experiments can test Born's rule -- a postulate of quantum mechanics -- via the so-called Sorkin test. A simulation of the Sorkin test under consideration of typical experimental noise and data acquisition efficiencies infers an achievable measurement precision in the range of the best Sorkin tests to date. The implementation of further fundamental tests of quantum mechanics is discussed.

James A. R. Samson, Anthony F. Starace

A. Ronny Barnea, Ori Cheshnovsky, Uzi Even

Interference experiments have been paramount in our understanding of quantum mechanics and are frequently the basis of testing the superposition principle in the framework of quantum theory. In recent years, several studies have challenged the nature of wave-function interference from the perspective of Born's rule---namely, the manifestation of so-called high-order interference terms in a superposition generated by diffraction of the wave functions. Here we present an experimental test of multipath interference in the diffraction of metastable helium atoms, with large-number counting statistics, comparable to photon-based experiments. We use a variation of the original triple-slit experiment and accurate single-event counting techniques to provide a new experimental bound of $2.9\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}5}$ on the statistical deviation from the commonly approximated null third-order interference term in Born's rule for matter waves. Our value is on the order of the maximal contribution predicted for multipath trajectories by Feynman path integrals.