Abstract
Wheeler's delayed-choice experiment was conceived to illustrate the paradoxical nature of wave-particle duality in quantum mechanics. In the experiment, quantum light can exhibit either wave-like interference patterns or particle-like anti-correlations, depending upon the (possibly delayed) choice of the experimenter. A variant known as the quantum eraser uses entangled light to recover the lost interference in a seemingly nonlocal and retrocausal manner. Although it is believed that this behavior is incompatible with classical physics, here we show that the observed quantum phenomena can be reproduced by adopting a simple deterministic detector model and supposing the existence of a random zero-point electromagnetic field.
Highlights
Wave-particle duality is one of the oldest and most perplexing aspects of quantum theory [1]
For Wheeler, the delayed-choice experiment was an argument for antirealism, the notion that quantum objects, such as photons, do not have definite, intrinsic properties that are independent of the measurement context [17]
Iment, but it fails to describe a variant of this experiment using variable phase delays in the arms of the interferometer. This variant has been the subject of recent experimental investigations, which are consistent with theoretical predictions [20,21,22]
Summary
Wave-particle duality is one of the oldest and most perplexing aspects of quantum theory [1]. A series of delayed-choice experiments has been performed that rule out a certain class of nonretrocausal hidden-variable models described by Chaves, Lemos, and Pienaar [19]. This variant has been the subject of recent experimental investigations, which are consistent with theoretical predictions [20,21,22] These experiments place certain dimensional restrictions on the class of nonretrocausal hidden-variable models that can be consistent with theory and observations. III, within the context of a quantum eraser experiment, and demonstrate how postselection, not causality, is the mechanism whereby path information is effectively erased With these two results established, we revisit the theoretical arguments of Chaves and Bowles in Sec. V and argue that their assumptions are overly restrictive. Performed using a custom simulation tool, the Virtual Quantum Optics Laboratory (VQOL) [30]
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