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arXiv:quant-ph/0102009

Physical reality and the Complementarity Principle

R. Srikanth

Published Feb 2, 2001• 2 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Consideration of the von Neumann measurement process underlying interference experiments shows that the uncertainty in the incoming wave, responsible for its interference, translates during measurement into an uncertainty at the measuring apparatus. However, subsequent measurement on the apparatus does not reveal any new information about the interfering wave. This observation, in the context of recent advances in quantum information, suggests an argument for an information theoretic interpretation of quantum mechanics.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.quant-ph/0102009

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Consideration of the von Neumann measurement process underlying interference experiments shows that the uncertainty in the incoming wave, responsible for its interference, translates during measurement into an uncertainty at the measuring apparatus. However, subsequent measurement on the apparatus does not reveal any new information about the interfering wave. This observation, in the context of recent advances in quantum information, suggests an argument for an information theoretic interpretation of quantum mechanics.
I present here a thought experiment which violates the most widely accepted interpretation of quantum mechanics “The Copenhagen Interpretation” and Bohr’s complementarity which says that there is no meaning of the state of a particle until it is observed and the act of observation might change it. The experiment consists of a double slit apparatus which is modified by putting a second double slit apparatus between the source and the original apparatus with certain conditions imposed on both the apparatuses using the facts of interference and diffraction. A striking paradox emerges if we consider the arguments of Bohr’s complementarity, i.e. the photon travels through both the paths simultaneously in a double slit apparatus whenever there is interference. It turns out that this paradox can be resolved only if the photon travels through one path even if interference fringes are visible.
In this paper, we shall show how the theory of measurements is to be understood from the point of view of a physical interpretation of the quantum theory in terms of "hidden" variables, developed in a previous paper. We find that in principle, these "hidden" variables determine the precise results of each individual measurement process. In practice, however, in measurements that we now know how to carry out, the observing apparatus disturbs the observed system in an unpredictable and uncontrollable way, so that the uncertainty principle is obtained as a practical limitation on the possible precision of measurements. This limitation is not, however, inherent in the conceptual structure of our interpretation. We shall see, for example, that simultaneous measurements of position and momentum having unlimited precision would in principle be possible if, as suggested in the previous paper, the mathematical formulation of the quantum theory needs to be modified at very short distances in certain ways that are consistent with our interpretation but not with the usual interpretation.We give a simple explanation of the origin of quantum-mechanical correlations of distant objects in the hypothetical experiment of Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen, which was suggested by these authors as a criticism of the usual interpretation.Finally, we show that von Neumann's proof that quantum theory is not consistent with hidden variables does not apply to our interpretation, because the hidden variables contemplated here depend both on the state of the measuring apparatus and the observed system and therefore go beyond certain of von Neumann's assumptions.In two appendixes, we treat the problem of the electromagnetic field in our interpretation and answer certain additional objections which have arisen in the attempt to give a precise description for an individual system at the quantum level.
In this paper we discuss a recent double-slit experiment where which-path information is obtained without disturbing the photons in their path to the detector, and, as a consequence, an interference pattern is observed on the far screen even if it is known which slit the photons go through. We argue that this result is in clear contradiction with a fundamental principle in orthodox quantum mechanics – Bohr’s complementarity principle – and also point out that, on the other hand, the results of this experiment are the expected ones in the framework of de Broglie’s pilot wave theory
Abstract It is argued that two distinct types of complementarity are implied in Bohr's complementarity principle. While in the case of complementary variables it is the quantum mechanical uncertainty relation which is at work, the collapse hypothesis ensures this exclusiveness in the so-called wave-particle complementarity experiments. In particular it is shown that the conventional analysis of the double slit experiment which invokes the uncertainty principle to explain the absence of the simultaneous knowledge of the which-slit information and the interference pattern is incorrect and implies consequences that are quantum mechanically inconsistent.