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Session F: Contributed Oral Papers – F4: Theory: A non-QM explanation of Jacques' (2007) ``Wheeler gedanken experiment with delayed choice,'' without delayed choice

Jeffrey H. Boyd

Published Nov 19, 2011• 0 citations

Abstract

The publication in Science in 2007 of Jacques et al ``Experimental realization of Wheeler's delayed-choice gedanken experiment,'' appears to demonstrate many counter-intuitive ideas. The solidity of those conclusions depends on whether quantum mechanics (QM) provides the ONLY available explanation of the experiment. By thinking outside the box we have arrived at a different explanation of that experiment. QM is the box outside of which we think, not because of criticism of QM, but in order to explore an unconventional viewpoint. Our explanation is based on elementary waves. We find no delayed choice. What appears to be delayed choice is an illusion. We also find local cause and effect. This does not prove that our way of thinking is correct. It simply means that we propose an alternative explanation of the experiment that does not lead to all those counter-intuitive ideas.

DOI: 10.7275/7719

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The publication in Science in 2007 of Jacques et al ``Experimental realization of Wheeler's delayed-choice gedanken experiment,'' appears to demonstrate many counter-intuitive ideas. The solidity of those conclusions depends on whether quantum mechanics (QM) provides the ONLY available explanation of the experiment. By thinking outside the box we have arrived at a different explanation of that experiment. QM is the box outside of which we think, not because of criticism of QM, but in order to explore an unconventional viewpoint. Our explanation is based on elementary waves. We find no delayed choice. What appears to be delayed choice is an illusion. We also find local cause and effect. This does not prove that our way of thinking is correct. It simply means that we propose an alternative explanation of the experiment that does not lead to all those counter-intuitive ideas.

Abstract: Recently the experimental group of A. Aspect published a very interesting experimental realization of the well known Wheeler’s delayed-choice Gedanken Experiment. In the paper the authors refer to the usual, non causal linear explanation of the experiment. In the present work we show how it is possible, and furthermore desirable, to explain the same experiment in terms of the modern local causal and nonlinear quantum theory, inspired in the work of the great physicist Louis de Broglie. In this way we are able to get rid of the mysteries and of the weird features of the orthodox interpretation, like retractions in time, and therefore recover causality and rationality once more.

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).

Wave-particle duality lies at the root of quantum mechanics and is central in the description of interferences observed with elementary objects. In a delayed-choice experiment, the decision to observe the particle or wave character of a quantum system is delayed with respect to the time at which the system enters the interferometer. This paper reviews the history of the delayed-choice idea, introduced as a challenge to a realistic explanation of the wave-particle duality. It also describes recent experimental realizations of this idea and discusses intriguing extensions, such as the duality between separability and entanglement in multiple quantum systems.

John Wheeler devised a gedanken experiment in which a piece of apparatus can be altered just before the arrival of particle, and this “delayed choice” can, seemingly, alter the quantum state of the particle at a much earlier time, long before the choice is made. A slightly different gedanken experiment, which exhibits the same conceptual difficulty, is analyzed using the techniques of consistent history quantum theory. The idea that the future influences the past disappears when proper account is taken of the diversity of possible quantum descriptions of the world, and their mutual compatibility or incompatibility.

Abstract In this article, we present a detailed analysis of two famous delayed choice experiments: Wheeler’s classic gedanken-experiment and the delayed quantum eraser. Our analysis shows that the outcomes of both experiments can be fully explained on the basis of the information collected during the experiments using textbook quantum mechanics only. At no point in the argument, information from the future is needed to explain what happens next. In fact, more is true: for both experiments, we show, in a strictly mathematical way, that a modified version in which the time-ordering of the steps is changed to avoid the delayed choice leads to exactly the same final state. In this operational sense, the scenarios are completely equivalent in terms of conclusions that can be drawn from their outcomes.