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Related papers: Direct Measurement of the Quantum Wavefunction

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We analyze an experiment in which a thin wire is scanned across the overlap of two in phase photon beams. We find that unless the wire induces the formation of an interference pattern, the complementarity inequality is violated. Quantum…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2025-09-11 Eduardo V. Flores

Using publicly available video of a diffusion cloud chamber with a very small radioactive source, I measure the spatial distribution of where tracks start, and consider possible implications. This is directly relevant to the quantum…

General Physics · Physics 2022-02-01 Jonathan F. Schonfeld

We propose a definition of wavefunction "branchings": quantum superpositions which can't be feasibly distinguished from the corresponding mixed state, even under time evolution. Our definition is largely independent of interpretations,…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2025-03-26 Jordan K. Taylor , Ian P. McCulloch

The act of measurement on a quantum state is supposed to "collapse" the state into one of several eigenstates of the operator corresponding to the observable being measured. This measurement process is sometimes described as outside…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2021-10-26 Satish Ramakrishna

There are reasons to doubt that making sense of the wave function (other than as a probability algorithm) will help with the project of making sense of quantum mechanics. The consistency of the quantum-mechanical correlation laws with the…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2014-11-06 Ulrich Mohrhoff

A single quantum particle can be described by a wavefunction that spreads over arbitrarily large distances, but it is never detected in two (or more) places. This strange phenomenon is explained in quantum theory by what Einstein repudiated…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2015-04-20 Maria Fuwa , Shuntaro Takeda , Marcin Zwierz , Howard M. Wiseman , Akira Furusawa

A century after the discovery of quantum mechanics, the meaning of quantum mechanics still remains elusive. This is largely due to the puzzling nature of the wave function, the central object in quantum mechanics. If we are realists about…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2021-10-25 Eddy Keming Chen

Bohmian mechanics is a theory that provides a consistent explanation of quantum phenomena in terms of point particles whose motion is guided by the wave function. In this theory, the state of a system of particles is defined by the actual…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2016-10-05 Albert Solé , Xavier Oriols , Damiano Marian , Nino Zanghì

The objective of this work is to develop a recursive, discrete time quantum filtering equation for a system that interacts with a probe, on which measurements are performed according to the Positive Operator Valued Measures (POVMs)…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2013-09-10 Ram A. Somaraju , Alain Sarlette , Hugo Thienpont

I address the question whether the wave function in quantum theory exists as a real (ontic) quantity or not. For this purpose, I discuss the essentials of the quantum formalism and emphasize the central role of the superposition principle.…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2019-08-14 Claus Kiefer

We study evolution of a quantum particle in a harmonic potential whose position and momentum are repeatedly monitored. A back-action of measuring devices is accounted for. Our model utilizes a generalized measurement corresponding to the…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2023-06-16 Filip Gampel , Mariusz Gajda

Realist, no-collapse interpretations of quantum mechanics, such as Everett's, face the probability problem: how to justify the norm-squared (Born) rule from the wavefunction alone. While any basis-independent measure can only be…

Information Theory · Computer Science 2016-06-23 Allan F. Randall

Applications of quantum mechanics have led to many successful predictions and explanations of puzzling phenomena, and we now apply quantum mechanics to gain, process, and communicate information in novel ways. We can understand quantum…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2026-04-03 Richard Healey

With the ability to directly obtain the Wigner function and density matrix of photon states, quantum tomography (QT) has had a significant impact on quantum optics, quantum computing and quantum information. By an appropriate sequence of…

Quantum backflow is a counterintuitive phenomenon in which the probability density of a quantum particle propagates opposite to its momentum. Experimental observation of backflow has remained elusive due to two main challenges: (i) the…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2026-03-03 Tomasz Paterek , Arseni Goussev

We show using a realistic Hamiltonian-type model that definite outcomes of quantum measurements may emerge from quantum evolution of pure states, i.e quantum dynamics provides a deterministic collapse of the wavefunction in a quantum…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2008-09-10 Håkon Brox , Kåre Olaussen , Anh Kiet Nguyen

A fundamental understanding of quantum chromodynamics, particularly at the amplitude level, is essential for progress in high energy physics. For example, the measurement and interpretation of the basic parameters of the electroweak theory…

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology · Physics 2009-09-11 S. J. Brodsky

Interference between an unknown two-photon state (a "biphoton") and the two-photon component of a reference state gives a phase-sensitive arrival-time distribution containing full information about the biphoton temporal wave function. Using…

The quantum mechanics description of a physical object stretched in space and stable in time from the relativistic space-time properties point of view, introduced in special theory of relativity, is considered and analysed. The mathematical…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2007-05-23 Andrey V. Novikov-Borodin

My view on the meaning of the quantum wave function and its connection to protective measurements is described. The wave function and only the wave function is the ontology of the quantum theory. Protective measurements support this view…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2014-02-28 Lev Vaidman