Collapse of the quantum wavefunction and Welcher-Weg (WW) experiments

2012/01/26 by Y. Ben-Aryeh, Ben-Aryeh, Y.
Computer Science · Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Photonic and Optical Devices #Quantum Information and Cryptography #Quantum Physics (quant-ph) #Quantum optics and atomic interactions #quant-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1201.5461

13 pages

arxiv created 2012/01/26 · openalex publication_date 2012/01/26 · arxiv updated 2012/01/27 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

The 'collapse' of the wave function in a general measuring process is analyzed by a pure quantum mechanical (QM) approach. The problem of the delayed choice and Welcher-Weg (WW) experiments is analyzed for Mach-Zehnder (MZ) interferometer. The WW effect is related to complementarity principle and orthogonality of wavefunctions although it produces small momentum changes between the electromagnetic (EM) field and the beam-splitters (BS's). For QM states for which we have a superposition of states and interference effects there is no reality before measurement, but by excluding such effects the system gets a real meaning already before measurement.

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