Re: Is State Vector Reduction a 'Process'?



Arnold Neumaier wrote:


The light ray of a laser is an electromagnetic field localized in a
small region along the ray that begins in the laser and ends at the
photodetector. A ray of intensity I is described by a coherent state
   |I>> =3D |0> + I|1> + I^2/2|2> + I^3/6|3> + ...
If I is tiny then, from time to time, an electron responds (in some
loose way of speaking that itself would need correction) to the
energy continuously transmitted by the ray by going into an excited
state, an event which is magnified in the detector and recorded.
These occasional events form a Poisson process, with a rate proportional
to the intensity I. This, no more and no less, is the experimental
observation. It is precisely what is predicted by quantum mechanics.

The traditional sloppy way of picturing this in an intuitive way is to
say that, from time to time, a photon arrives at the screen and kicks
an electron out of its orbit. This is a nice piccture, especially for
the newcomer or the lay man, but it cannot be taken any more seriously
than Bohr's picture of an atom, in which electrons orbit a nucleus in
certain quantum orbits. For nothing of this can be checked by experiment
- it is empty talk intended to serve intuition, but in fact causing more
damange than understanding.



Laser ray is a complex phenomenon involving a large number of photons.
How your coherent state/Poisson process picture describes the
interaction of a single photon with the screen or atom? I guess you
do not dispute the fact that single photons can be routinely prepared
in a laboratory, and their "arrivals at the screen" can be observed.

Eugene Stefanovich.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Is State Vector Reduction a Process?
    ... small region along the ray that begins in the laser and ends at the photodetector. ... These occasional events form a Poisson process, with a rate proportional to the intensity I. ... It is precisely what is predicted by quantum mechanics. ... The large number of photons are described by the single coherent state. ...
    (sci.physics.research)
  • Re: Low E Glass
    ... Yes, it decreases the overall intensity, but without having a great deal ... Ray, Don't they block out parts of the UV spectrum? ...
    (rec.gardens.orchids)
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