Renninger’s Gedankenexperiment, the collapse of the wave function in a rigid quantum metamaterial and the reality of the quantum state vector
Sergey Saveliev
Alexandre Zagoskin
2134/33701
https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/journal_contribution/Renninger_s_Gedankenexperiment_the_collapse_of_the_wave_function_in_a_rigid_quantum_metamaterial_and_the_reality_of_the_quantum_state_vector/9409916
A popular interpretation of the “collapse” of the wave function is as being the result of a local interaction (“measurement”) of the quantum system with a macroscopic system (“detector”), with the ensuing loss of phase coherence between macroscopically distinct components of its quantum state vector. Nevetheless as early as in 1953 Renninger suggested a Gedankenexperiment, in which the collapse is triggered by non-observation of one of two mutually exclusive outcomes of the measurement, i.e., in the absence of interaction of the quantum system with the detector. This provided a powerful argument in favour of “physical reality” of (nonlocal) quantum state vector. In this paper we consider a possible version of Renninger’s experiment using the light propagation through a birefringent quantum metamaterial. Its realization would provide a clear visualization of a wave function collapse produced by a “non-measurement”, and make the concept of a physically real quantum state vector more acceptable.
2018-07-03 15:42:09
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Physical Sciences not elsewhere classified