Re: Double Slit Puzzle Explained (?)


"FrediFizzx" <fredifizzx@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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"Bill Miller" <billmillerkt4ye@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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"FrediFizzx" <fredifizzx@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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"Bill Miller" <billmillerkt4ye@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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Bill strides manfully up the scaffold steps. He grabs the rope, slides
it over his head, positions his feet squarely over the trapdoor, grabs
the handle and pulls hard...
**************************************************



The Puzzle



The following is from Wikipedia: "In the double-slit experiment, light
is shone at a solid thin plate that has two slits cut into it. A
photographic plate or some other detection screen is set up to record
what comes through those slits. One or the other slit may be open, or
both may be open.



Normally, when only one slit is open, the pattern on the plate is a
diffraction pattern, a fairly narrow central band with dimmer bands
parallel to it on each side. When both slits are open, the pattern
displayed becomes very much more detailed and at least four times as
wide."



Wikipedia continues with:



"The most baffling part of this experiment comes when only one photon
at a time is fired at the barrier with both slits open. The pattern of
interference remains the same as can be seen if many photons are
emitted one at a time and recorded on the same *** of photographic
film. The clear implication is that something with a wavelike nature
passes simultaneously through both slits and interferes with itself -
even though there is only one photon present. (The experiment works
with electrons, atoms, and even some molecules too.)"

The clear implication of the above is that light, electrons, atoms and
some molecules are composed of waves, not particles. This has led many
researchers moving in many different directions, with results ranging
from the ridiculous to the divine. But no solid answers seem to have
appeared.

IMHO, it is a good assumption that there are real waves involved with
quantum objects.

OK but it seems that the double slit experiment is valid for light,
photons (whatever THEY are!) electrons, atoms and some molecules.

Your contention holds for light, photons and (maybe) electrons. Are you
now maintaining that atoms are quantum objects? What about molecules? At
what point does an object cease (or start) to be "quantum?"

Sure, atoms are quantum objects as well as simple molecules. There is
really not a clear cut "point" at which an object is either quantum or
classical. It mostly depends on how they are being observed. But all
classical objects are composed of quantum objects, of course. ;-)

OK Lets throw bricks through the slits.


Not to be confused with the "probability" waves of QM math. However, I
wouldn't rule out a particulate nature to quantum objects either since it
is needed for there to be real waves.



The Answer


The answer to this puzzle is, I believe, both straightforward and
non-quantum. In this note, I will deal solely with electrons. I believe
that the insights we may gain will be applicable to all aspects of this
little puzzle.



Since the mechanism for recording these "baffling" events is
photographic plates, and since the plates are sensitive to radiation,
let's look at where that radiation might come from.



The fundamental source for most, if not all radiation is the
acceleration of charges. And acceleration can take many forms. But only
one acceleration mechanism seems applicable to this particular problem.
That mechanism is called "Transition Radiation."



Quoting from Zolatarev and McDonald in "Classical Radiation Processes
in the Weizsacker-Williams Approximation," we read the following brief
description: "As a charged particle crosses, for example, a
vacuum/metal boundary, its interaction with charges in the material
results in their acceleration and hence radiation, commonly called
transition radiation."



It should be noted that this radiation is not coherent. Instead, it
will be wideband with spectra determined by the geometry of the slit,
the path of the electron(s) WRT the slit and the energy contained
therein. The radiation is in the Xray range.



The above explanation of Transition Radiation is what is going on at
each of the slits of a double slit experiment. The electron(s) interact
with the material at the boundary of the slit, causing radiation to
appear. It is this radiation that is captured on the photographic
plate.

I don't think so. I believe the way an electron experiment is done is
that it is actually an electron hitting the detection "plate" that is
recorded. And not radiation.

OK On what basis is this "belief" founded? Is there some sort of a filter
in front of the plate that filters out, say, Xrays? Or is the plate only
sensitive to electron impacts?

But wait... if an electron impacts, won't it just make a foggy little
spot?

Oh, I forgot. An electron is also a wave. So it will morph -- on
impact -- into a wave that just happens to have the exact pattern of
peaks and valleys as would have formed if another electron had
simultaneously gone through the other slit.

I think you need to do more research on how the electron experiments are
done.

Probably true, but it doesn't alter the fact that there is NO EXPLANATION
( that I have seen) for the double slit anomaly. (Until now, of course.)

Yeah. That's a LOT more sensible than my idea.

[snip radiation hypothesis]

Summary


This short note neither proves nor disproves the wave/particle duality
of the electron. It is entirely possible that an electron may be a
particle. Or it may be some form of wave function.

There is not much doubt in my mind that an electron has both particle
and wave properties. Why not just accept that it is both?

I guess that I don't want to blindly accept something that does not seem
to SOLVE one of the biggest unsolved puzzles (that I can think of) in EM
today. That puzzle is: How can a single photon/electron/atom/molecule
"know" about the presence or absence of the second slit?

Hint: Accepting that electrons have both properties does NOT answer the
above question. (Unless, along with the properties of a wave and a
particle, an electron ALSO has sentience.)

If an electron has real wave properties it definitely explains the
phenomenon. No "sentience" is needed.

Yes, sentience is required. Remember, we are talking about one electron
going through one slit. When One slit is present we measure wave pattern "A"
When two slits are present, we measure wave pattern B. A and B are not the
same. With your hypothesis, there is no way that the electron (or photon, or
atom or molecule or BRICK) can know anything about the presence of the
second slit.

UNLESS, of course, the two slots are couled in some way. And that's my
hypthesis.

I chose a slot antenna as my model because it seems to fit. But I'm happy to
look at other coupling methods (except telepathy.)

Why does it have to be one or the other? Neutrinos and relativistic
effects are the clue.

But it DOES demonstrate, using well-established principles, that there
is a reasonable explanation for the double slit puzzle. And that
explanation has nothing to do with statistics nor with quantum
mechanics.

Sorry, no it doesn't.

Because...?

Because the detectors are detecting electrons and not radiation.

I don't think so. The setup is the same, and the results are the same with
electrons and light.

All The Best...

Bill

Thanks for the reply, Fred.

Your most welcome.

Best,

Fred Diether
Co-moderator sci.physics.foundations


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