Related papers: Particle path(s) through a nested Mach-Zehnder int…
The concept of presence has been extensively explored in philosophy, yet the notion of particle presence within quantum theory remains under-examined. In this article, we explore particle presence through an analysis of a paradox arising…
Which-path information of a quantum particle in interferometers is the key to infer the past of quantum particle. It arises many extensive discussions including quantum complementarity and path-visibility relation. The basic of these…
In this paper we attempt to establish a theory of negative (quasi) probability distributions from fundamental principles and apply it to the study of the double-slit experiment in quantum mechanics. We do so in a way that preserves the main…
Quantum history states were recently formulated by extending the consistent histories approach of Griffiths to the entangled superposition of evolution paths and were then experimented with Greenberger--Horne--Zeilinger states. Tensor…
We investigate four key issues with using a nonzero weak value of the spatial projection operator to infer the past path of an individual quantum particle. First, we note that weak measurements disturb a system, so any approach relying on…
Yuan and Feng [Eur. Phys. J. Plus 138:70, 2023] recently proposed a modification of the nested Mach-Zehnder interferometer experiment performed by Danan et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 111:240402, 2013] and argued that photons give "contradictory"…
Feynman path integrals are now a standard tool in quantum physics and their use in differential geometry leads to new mathematical insights. A logical treatment of quantum phenomena seems to require a sustained mathematical analysis of path…
Vaidman, in a recent article adopts the method of 'quantum weak measurements in pre- and postselected ensembles' to ascertain whether or not the chained-Zeno counterfactual computation scheme proposed by Hosten et al. is counterfactual;…
The past of the photon in a nested Mach-Zehnder interferometer with an inserted Dove prism is analyzed. It is argued that the Dove prism does not change the past of the photon. Alonso and Jordan correctly point out that an experiment by…
Many macroscopic physical processes are known to occur in a time-directed way despite the apparent time-symmetry of the known fundamental laws. A popular explanation is to postulate an unimaginably atypical state for the early universe -- a…
The question: "Where was a quantum particle between pre- and postselection measurements?" is analyzed in view of a recent proposal that it was in the overlap of the forward and backward evolving wave functions. It is argued that this…
In this paper we discuss quantum-like decision-making experiments using negative probabilities. We do so by showing how the two-slit experiment, in the simplified version of the Mach-Zehnder interferometer, can be described by this…
It will be presented in this chapter a historical account of the consistent histories interpretation of quantum mechanics based on primary and secondary literature. Firstly, the formalism of the consistent histories approach will be…
An ideal experiment is designed to determine the past of a particle in the nested Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) by using standard quantum mechanics with quantum non-demolition measurements. We find that when the photon reaches the…
Griffiths' ``quantum trajectories'' formalism is extended to describe weak decoherence. The decoherence conditions are shown to severely limit the complexity of histories composed of fine-grained events.
I offer some historical comments about the origins of Feynman's path integral approach, as an alternative approach to standard quantum mechanics. Looking at the interaction between Einstein and Feynman, which was mediated by Feynman's…
It was pointed out recently [A. Kent, Phys. Rev. Lett. 78 (1997) 2874] that the consistent histories approach allows contrary inferences to be made from the same data. These inferences correspond to projections $P$ and $Q$, belonging to…
In an recent work with the title "Asking Photons Where They Have Been", Danan et al. experimentally demonstrate an intriguing behavior of photons in an interferometer [Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 240402 (2013)]. In their words: "The photons tell…
Developing a quantum analog of the modern classical theory of causation, as formulated by Pearl and others using directed acyclic graphs, requires a theory of random or stochastic time development at the microscopic level, where the…
We analyze a single-particle Mach-Zehnder interferometer experiment in which the path length of one arm may change (randomly or systematically) according to the value of an external two-valued variable $x$, for each passage of a particle…