Abstract
A popular interpretation of the “collapse” of the wave function is as being the result of a local interaction (“measurement”) of the quantum system with a macroscopic system (“detector”), with the ensuing loss of phase coherence between macroscopically distinct components of its quantum state vector. Nevetheless as early as in 1953 Renninger suggested a Gedankenexperiment, in which the collapse is triggered by non-observation of one of two mutually exclusive outcomes of the measurement, i.e., in the absence of interaction of the quantum system with the detector. This provided a powerful argument in favour of “physical reality” of (nonlocal) quantum state vector. In this paper we consider a possible version of Renninger’s experiment using the light propagation through a birefringent quantum metamaterial. Its realization would provide a clear visualization of a wave function collapse produced by a “non-measurement”, and make the concept of a physically real quantum state vector more acceptable.
Highlights
The central element of the transition from quantum to classical behaviour is the loss of phase coherence between the components of the wave function corresponding to macroscopically distinguishable states of the system[1]
In this paper we propose a version of Renninger’s experiment, which uses a quantum metamaterial (QMM) a macroscopic, quantum coherent optical medium - and show that the observable statistics of photons passing through such a medium presents a clear visualization of this effect, which supports Renninger’s point of view that a quantum state vector is an “element of reality” possessing both wavelike and particlelike qualities simultaneously
We have proposed a new implementation of Renninger’s negative-result Gedankenexperiment, based on the propagation of photons through a quantum metamaterial
Summary
T1))|1〉 − So a new i cos(ω(t2 − t1))|2〉, random number was generated and compared with P1, resulting in either the collapse to the state|1〉 (if p < P1, which occurs for the realisation shown in Fig. 2a) or to the state |2〉. This discrete stochastic process allows us to determine both the moments of expected photon arrival times and the outcomes of state collapse (or non-collapse) at these moments.
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