On 7/27/2013 10:59 PM, Dan Asimov wrote:
I don't understand what's going on here.
1) Are you really "directing" buckyballs (or radiation) at the screen, or just filtering out all but what goes through (one or both of) the two slits?
http://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0402146
2) I would've guessed that there'd be more, not less, infrared radiation as the temperature increases -- at least up to a point. No?
Right. As the temperature increases the buckyballs radiate more and shorter wavelength photons which, if they were observed would give the observer some (though not perfect) information as to which slit a buckyball passed through. The interesting point is they don't have to be observed to have the effect of localizing the buckball and maybe incidentally, the buckyballs are not sufficiently localized by other interactions such as gravitons, cosmic rays, or neutrinos.
3) Also, what does "which-way information" mean and how do IR photons provide that?
See above.
4) Finally, why does the interference pattern fade away as you heat up the buckyballs?
See above, although that's sort of like asking why does the world look classical - we're not sure but it seems to be because information necessary to localize things is available in the environment (in this case IR photons). Brent
Thanks,
Dan
On 2013-07-27, at 4:31 PM, meekerdb wrote:
Yes, and the double slit experiment with buckyballs provides an excellent example because it allows varying the degree of isolation and causing the interference pattern to fade in or out. You heat up the buckyballs you are directing at the screen with the two slits. So the buckyballs can radiate IR photons with provides which-way information. So when they are cold you see the interference pattern and as you heat them up it fades away. And you don't have to "see" the IR photons or otherwise detect them; they just go away to be absorbed the lab walls.
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