Re: One Photon Double Slit Reinterpretations

From: Zigoteau (zigoteau_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 01/24/05 

Date: 24 Jan 2005 12:45:44 -0800

Hi, Uncle Al,

That's lots to think about!

> > I don't want to get in too deep here, and I know exactly
> > where you are coming from. QFT makes predictions which
> > are confirmed by experiment to the tenth decimal place.
> > But it's still crazy. Certainly the Copenhagen
> > Interpretation of it.

> I make no claims as to validity of QM, nor does QM. "The math is only
> metaphor."

You could say that about all physics, and chemistry, if it comes to
that.

> Nevertheless, one cannot fault single photon two-slit
> diffraction with a coincidence argument. The intensity over time can
> be reduced to arbitrarily small values and the two-slit diffraction
> pattern still evolves by the book.
<..>
> A bigger problem is the use of single charged particles re de Broglie
> waves or much bigger lumps re C60. Arguing photon subtleties is one
> thing. Putting C60 through a double slit experiment is something
> different. Why stop there?

You're right. In fact the C60 interference experiment is not
qualitatively different from the interference of helium atoms, which is
well enough documented (although I've never been very impressed with
the quality of results from it). And with C60 and its ilk, the trick is
to arrange for the different states of excitation to have their
interference maxima and minima in the same place.

But if you think about it, these experiments mean that quantum objects
are very different from everyday ones. Each C60 molecule clearly passes
through both slits and interferes with itself. That sounds crazy, but
that's what waves do, and quantum waves are more complex things than
sound waves. There is no other explanation.

> It requires more than an idiot to understand it, even to maunder
about
> it afterwards. We'll see how it fares in sci.physics.reaserch.

Looks like dead calm. However it has inspired me to do some reading
around the point. The claims that it can be used for metrology seem
very confident, but in my scientific career I have seen a number of
similar confident claims bite the dust. I have just been to the library
and gotten a few papers on the subject for bedtime reading.

> Has there been any criticism of the results, experimental or
> theoretical? They went on to use C70, polyfluorinated C60, and say
> they wll attempt a small virus.

In modern science, almost everybody's funding is dependent on the
goodwill of the power brokers, and you don't get criticism of the high
fliers, certainly not public criticism. I believe that Schön's work
had rung warning bells in certain quarters for years before he was
publicly discredited. I don't think that a researcher would ever be
criticized by someone from another country - too sensitive.

> > Any news yet from China?
>
> All is quiet. The first hemiparity Eotvos experiment, optically
> right-handed quartz vs. fused silica, was running a perfect null. The
> balance and test mass configuration are shown to have no extraneous
> outputs. The full parity Eotvos experiment is next, left-handed vs.
> right-handed single crystal quartz. We lost our left-handed single
> crystal raw material to an autoclave rupture. That puts off obtaining
> the next one until about April. Attempts to source natural
> left-handed quartz went poorly vs. the six kinds of twinning.

Ah, the path of true science never did run smooth!
Best of luck!

Cheers,

Zigoteau.

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