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Directly Observing Momentum Transfer in Twin-Slit "Which-Way" Experiments

Quantum Physics 2009-11-10 v1

Abstract

Is the destruction of interference by a which-way measurement due to a random momentum transfer \agt/s\wp\agt\hbar/s, with ss the slit separation? The weak-valued probability distribution Pwv()P_{\rm wv}(\wp), which is {\em directly observable}, provides a subtle answer. Pwv()P_{\rm wv}(\wp) cannot have support on the interval [/s,/s][-\hbar/s,\hbar/s]. Nevertheless, its moments can be identically zero.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.quant-ph/0303139,
  title  = {Directly Observing Momentum Transfer in Twin-Slit "Which-Way" Experiments},
  author = {H. M. Wiseman},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:quant-ph/0303139},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

5 pages, 1 figure. Almost the version almost accepted for publication in Phys. Lett. A

R2 v1 2026-07-22T19:38:45.697Z