TITLE:
What Was in the Apparatus before the Click of the Detector?
AUTHORS:
Sofia D. Wechsler
KEYWORDS:
Two-Particle Interference, Coherence Length, Full Waves, Empty Waves
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Quantum Information Science,
Vol.11 No.4,
November
4,
2021
ABSTRACT: When a quantum system is described by a superposition of wave-packets, each wave-packet traveling on a separate path, a commonly asked question is why only one of the wave-packets is able to trigger a click in a detector. In the second half of the last century many scientists considered the possibility that not all these wave-packets are identical. Namely, that there exist “full waves” and “empty waves”. The two types of waves were supposed to be identical only in the sense that they are able to produce interference when crossing one another, however, the full wave was supposed to be able to trigger a click in a detector, while the empty wave was supposed to leave the detector silent. The present text describes an experiment in which, for explaining the results, it seems necessary to admit the existence of full and empty waves.