Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-9q27g Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-19T22:23:05.167Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

On the Paradoxical Aspects of New Quantum Experiments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2022

Lev Vaidman
Lev Vaidman*
Affiliation:
Tel-Aviv University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

I shall discuss two recently suggested quantum experiments. These experiments lead to paradoxical situations. I will argue that in the framework of a particular Many Worlds Interpretation of quantum theory the paradoxes do not arise.

The first experiment is the “interaction-free measurement” (Elitzur and Vaidman 1993). The experimental group at Innsbruck headed by Prof. Zeilinger is working now on its realization. Before describing the experiment let me discuss a general question: “How do we know that there is an object in a region of space?”

The simplest case is when the object itself causes some physical changes outside the region:

  • i) The object is charged, so there is a field outside. We can measure this field.

  • ii) The object yields a potential outside. Aharonov and Bohm have taught us that potential even without field leads to a measurable effect.

  • iii) The objects radiates photons or other particles.

Type
Part VI. Quantum Mechanics and Cosmology
Information
PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association , Volume 1994 , Issue 1: Volume One: Contributed Papers 1994 , 1994 , pp. 210 - 217
Copyright
Copyright © 1994 by the Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

1

It is a pleasure to thank Yakir Aharonov and Philip Pearle for stimulating discussions. The research was supported in part by grant 425/93-1 of the Basic Research Foundation (administered by the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities). Send reprint requests to the author, Physics Department, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv 69978 ISRAEL; e-mail: vaidman@ccsg.tau.ac.il.

References

Bennett, C.H.; Brassard, G.; Crepeau, C; Jozsa, R.; Peres, A.; and Wootters, W.K. (1993), “Teleporting of Unknown Quantum State via Dual Classical and Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Channels”, Physical Review Letters 70: 1895–1898.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Everett, H. (1957), “Relative State Formulation of Quantum Mechanics”, Review of Modern Physics 29: 454–462.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elitzur, A. and Vaidman, L. (1993), “Quantum Mechanical Interaction-Free Measurements”, Foundation of Physics 23: 987–997.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kwiat, P.; Weinfurter, H.; Herzog, T.; Zeilinger, A.; and Kasevich, M. (forthcoming), in “Symposium on Modern Physics” Helsinki, June 1994.Google Scholar
Vaidman, L. (1993), “On Schizophrenic Experiences of the Neutron or why We should Believe in the Many-Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Theory”, Tel-Aviv University preprint, TAUP 2058-93.Google Scholar
Vaidman, L. (1994), “Teleportation of Quantum States”, Phvsical Review A 49: 1473–1476.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vaidman, L. (forthcoming), “On the Realization of Interacton-Free Measurements”, Quantum Optics.Google Scholar