English

Time-Symmetric Resolutions of the Renninger Negative-Result Paradoxes

Quantum Physics 2023-09-11 v1

Abstract

The 1953 and 1960 Renninger negative-result thought experiments illustrate conceptual paradoxes in the Copenhagen formulation of quantum mechanics. In the 1953 paradox we can infer the presence of a detector in one arm of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer without any particle interacting with the detector. In the 1960 paradox we can infer the collapse of a wavefunction without any change in the state of a detector. I resolve both of these paradoxes by using a time-symmetric formulation of quantum mechanics. I also describe a real experiment that can distinguish between the Copenhagen and time-symmetric formulations.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2309.04018,
  title  = {Time-Symmetric Resolutions of the Renninger Negative-Result Paradoxes},
  author = {Michael B. Heaney},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2309.04018},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

14 pages, 4 figures