Quantum Oblivion: A Master Key for Many Quantum Riddles

Abstract

A simple quantum interaction is analyzed, where the paths of two superposed particles asymmetrically cross, while a detector set to detect an interaction between them remains silent. Despite this negative result, the particles' states leave no doubt that a peculiar interaction has occurred: One particle's momentum changes while the other's remains unaffected, in apparent violation of momentum conservation. Revisiting the foundations of the quantum measurement process offers the resolution. Prior to the macroscopic recording of no interaction, a brief Critical Interval prevails, during which the particles and the detector's pointer form a subtle entanglement which immediately dissolves. It is this self-cancellation, henceforth "Quantum Oblivion (QO)," that lies at the basis of some well-known intriguing quantum effects. Such is Interaction-Free Measurement (IFM) [1] and its more paradoxical variants, like Hardy's Paradox [2] and the Quantum Liar Paradox [3]. Even the Aharonov-Bohm (AB) effect [4] and weak measurement [5] turn out to belong to this group. We next study interventions within the Critical Interval that produce some other peculiar effects. Finally we discuss some of the conceptual issues involved. Under the time-resolution of the Critical Interval, some nonlocal phenomena turn out to be local. Momentum is conserved due to the quantum uncertainties inflicted by the particle-pointer interaction, which sets the experiment's final boundary condition.

Forthcoming in Conf. Proc. of Quantum 2014. Partially overlaps the forthcoming version in Conf. Proc. of DICE2014

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Cited by in corpus (15)

• Entanglement: Quantum or Classical?
• Interaction-Free Ghost-Imaging of Structured Objects
• The Case of the Disappearing (and Re-Appearing) Particle
• Realism and causality I: Pilot wave and retrocausal models as possible facilitators
• The Weak Reality that Makes Quantum Phenomena more Natural: Novel Insights and Experiments
• Interaction-Free Effects Between Distant Atoms
• Voices of Silence, Novelties of Noise: Oblivion and Hesitation as Origins of Quantum Mysteries
• Coherence and realism in the Aharonov-Bohm effect
• Nonlocal Position Changes of a Photon Revealed by Quantum Routers
• Counterfactual universal quantum computation
• The Too-Late-Choice Experiment: Bell's Proof within a Setting where the Nonlocal Effect's Target is an Earlier Event
• A relational time-symmetric framework for analyzing the quantum computational speedup
• Unveiling the curtain of superposition: Recent gedanken and laboratory experiments
• Time-symmetry and topology of the Aharonov-Bohm effect
• Post-selection induced deterministic and probabilistic entanglement with strong and weak interactions