The Case of the Disappearing (and Re-Appearing) Particle
Abstract A novel prediction is derived by the Two-State-Vector-Formalism (TSVF) for a particle superposed over three boxes. Under appropriate pre- and post-selections, and with tunneling enabled between two of the boxes, it is possible to derive not only one, but three predictions for three differen...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2017-04-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-00274-w |
| _version_ | 1830208081654448128 |
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| author | Yakir Aharonov Eliahu Cohen Ariel Landau Avshalom C. Elitzur |
| author_facet | Yakir Aharonov Eliahu Cohen Ariel Landau Avshalom C. Elitzur |
| author_sort | Yakir Aharonov |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract A novel prediction is derived by the Two-State-Vector-Formalism (TSVF) for a particle superposed over three boxes. Under appropriate pre- and post-selections, and with tunneling enabled between two of the boxes, it is possible to derive not only one, but three predictions for three different times within the intermediate interval. These predictions are moreover contradictory. The particle (when looked for using a projective measurement) seems to disappear from the first box where it would have been previously found with certainty, appearing instead within the third box, to which no tunneling is possible, and later re-appearing within the second. It turns out that local measurement (i.e. opening one of the boxes) fails to indicate the particle’s presence, but subtler measurements performed on the two boxes together reveal the particle’s nonlocal modular momentum spatially separated from its mass. Another advance of this setting is that, unlike other predictions of the TSVF that rely on weak and/or counterfactual measurements, the present one uses actual projective measurements. This outcome is then corroborated by adding weak measurements and the Aharonov-Bohm effect. The results strengthen the recently suggested time-symmetric Heisenberg ontology based on nonlocal deterministic operators. They can be also tested using the newly developed quantum router. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-18T04:43:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-dd6a04c3d88e4bf1ba42ef1c12d9f706 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-18T04:43:13Z |
| publishDate | 2017-04-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-dd6a04c3d88e4bf1ba42ef1c12d9f7062022-12-21T21:20:40ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222017-04-01711910.1038/s41598-017-00274-wThe Case of the Disappearing (and Re-Appearing) ParticleYakir Aharonov0Eliahu Cohen1Ariel Landau2Avshalom C. Elitzur3School of Physics and Astronomy, Tel Aviv UniversityIyar, The Israeli Institute for Advanced ResearchSchool of Physics and Astronomy, Tel Aviv UniversityIyar, The Israeli Institute for Advanced ResearchAbstract A novel prediction is derived by the Two-State-Vector-Formalism (TSVF) for a particle superposed over three boxes. Under appropriate pre- and post-selections, and with tunneling enabled between two of the boxes, it is possible to derive not only one, but three predictions for three different times within the intermediate interval. These predictions are moreover contradictory. The particle (when looked for using a projective measurement) seems to disappear from the first box where it would have been previously found with certainty, appearing instead within the third box, to which no tunneling is possible, and later re-appearing within the second. It turns out that local measurement (i.e. opening one of the boxes) fails to indicate the particle’s presence, but subtler measurements performed on the two boxes together reveal the particle’s nonlocal modular momentum spatially separated from its mass. Another advance of this setting is that, unlike other predictions of the TSVF that rely on weak and/or counterfactual measurements, the present one uses actual projective measurements. This outcome is then corroborated by adding weak measurements and the Aharonov-Bohm effect. The results strengthen the recently suggested time-symmetric Heisenberg ontology based on nonlocal deterministic operators. They can be also tested using the newly developed quantum router.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-00274-w |
| spellingShingle | Yakir Aharonov Eliahu Cohen Ariel Landau Avshalom C. Elitzur The Case of the Disappearing (and Re-Appearing) Particle Scientific Reports |
| title | The Case of the Disappearing (and Re-Appearing) Particle |
| title_full | The Case of the Disappearing (and Re-Appearing) Particle |
| title_fullStr | The Case of the Disappearing (and Re-Appearing) Particle |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Case of the Disappearing (and Re-Appearing) Particle |
| title_short | The Case of the Disappearing (and Re-Appearing) Particle |
| title_sort | case of the disappearing and re appearing particle |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-00274-w |
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