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Detection of the electron!!!

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Detection of the electron!!! Empty Detection of the electron!!!

Post by sherlock2308 Sat Aug 27, 2016 12:19 pm

"If we watch the electron to see which hole it is trying to go, we
loose the interference. The act of observation changes the property
of the electron."

This line is mentioned in the lecture notes. So the possible explanation can be that, if we wish to locate an electron accurately, we must use light with smaller wavelengths and hence the momentum of the photons would me high because of the relation p=h/wavelength. And because of the photon colliding with the electron, the momentum change of the electron would increase! can this be a possible explanation to why can't we detect through which hole the electron passes and thereby looses interference? Question

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Detection of the electron!!! Empty Re: Detection of the electron!!!

Post by Confusions allowed Sat Aug 27, 2016 12:49 pm

Not exactly. If we follow Feynman's lines, then, the electron takes every possible path before reaching the screen. Now, if we try to measure it, then the probability function collapses to the position of the electron. This removes the interference pattern. Actually, due to the alternative histories (This is how the phenomenon is addressed as in QM), one can say that even a single electron can create an interference pattern, due to interfering with itself. This can also be verified by the Uncertainty Principle. Previously, we knew the (Almost) exact value of momentum of the electron, as there were no other forces to change the velocity of the electron. But, the position uncertainty was very large, and therefore the electron could now go anywhere in the universe. When we shot a photon to detect it, though, your argument made the momentum uncertainty very high, but the position is now well-known. We also know that we need a good amount of position uncertainty to get interference, which is lacking here. Therefore, the interference pattern vanishes. One can, also, look at the argument given by Sir, as an example of the Copenhagen interpretation.
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