(Part 2 of our quantum mechanics column)
By Jan Groupp
A main experiment in quantum mechanics is the double slit experiment. This is an experiment where particles are radiated from a light source toward a thin wall with two small slits in the wall and there is a screen on the other side of the wall which each particle that goes through the experiment eventually hits and leaves a mark in the position where it hits on the screen.
If one of the two slits is closed then if many particles are sent through the experiment then the resultant pattern on the screen shows a grouping of particle marks on the side of the open slit and much fewer particles on the side with slit closed.
If both slits are open then the resultant pattern on the screen will be a wave interference pattern even if the particles are sent through the experiment one particle at a time. This means that even one particle can interfere with itself.
It’s not that the particle “knows” whether one slit or both slits are open. Instead, it’s that it is one or the other. If the particles are not being observed to go through one slit or the other then the particle remains in its wave function form and it is not shown to have any particle properties during non-observation. Both possibilities remain open when both slits are open if the particle is not observed to go through one slit or the other.
The wave function contains the actuality of the event happening as well as the actuality of what will happen along with all the possibilities that could happen but don’t happen. The wave function moves through both slits because both possibilities exist and an interference pattern manifests on the screen if the particle is not observed to go through one slit or the other. If a particle is observed to go through one slit or the other then the interference pattern dissipates.
The more often that there are observation checks along the object’s path through the experiment the more the pattern on the screen displays the particle form because of less opening to possibility. It takes a certain amount of time before a particle from the source at time zero reaches either of the two slits. The reason why a single particle goes through both holes and interferes with itself is because it is the radiated presence from the manifested particle that goes through both holes. This means that even one particle traveling through spacetime creates a world line, funnel-like manifestation that is radiated out in all directions from each moment-to-moment slice of space.
Before the particle actually enters one slit or the other the particle sheds a ‘manifestation bubble’ after each moment of its presence. This ‘manifestation bubble’ goes through both holes until the particle’s presence actually enters one slit or the other. The beginning of the ‘manifestation bubble’ is shed from the first ‘freeze frozen’ moment when the particle or particles first enter the experiment. After each moment a new ‘freeze frozen manifestation bubble’ is shed from the particle’s next slice of space position. Each slice of space position is connected to the previous slice of space and is radiated out in a funnel-like manner in all directions. So at each moment the particle moves in an exact path to end up going through one slit or the other. The radiated ‘manifestation bubble’ at each slice of space will go through both slits. This radiated ‘manifestation bubble’ is the reason for non-locality. If you observe a particle on one side of the ‘manifestation bubble’ than you are observing and thus, giving particle properties to the event and since the event is contained on the entirety of the ‘manifestation bubble’ no matter how big the ‘manifestation bubble’ has become, this solidifies the certainty of what exactly the event is. If you observe a particle in the up position on one side of the ‘manifestation bubble’ then you instantaneously know that two radii away from the observed particle and the origin of the event there is an entangled particle that is in the down position.
In the double slit experiment, if the experiment is done so that the particle is only being observed at the departure of the particle from the light source and at the arrival of the particle on the screen then it is only these two places where the particle side of the particle-wave is shown to be the manifestation. At all the places in between, the manifestation is shown to be the wave side of the particle-wave because its position is not being observed. Each individual particle travels through its own path through the experiment whether it is observed or not. The overall pattern on the screen is the manifestation presented from its potentiality landscape, which is contained in the fabric of possibility. The photon does not need to “know” anything about the parameters. Where the dark bands show up on the screen is where there are improbable positions for the particle or particles to be in the fabric of possibility. The brighter spots are where it is more probable.
If one is performing an experiment where there is 100% focus on the particle aspect of the particle-wave then there is 0% focus on the wave aspect of the particle-wave. The 100% focus on the particle gives the experimenter a complete description of the particle side of the particle-wave while nothing is shown to be present in respect to the wave side of the particle-wave through the perception doing the focusing.
Conversely, if the experiment is performed with 100 percent focus on the wave aspect of the particle-wave then there is 0 percent focus on the particle aspect of the particle-wave and no particle properties are displayed.
The pattern that shows up on the screen is dependent on the parameters of the experiment. If particles are passed individually or in multiples through the experiment with both slits open and with no detector to show which slit the particle goes through then the wave interference pattern on the screen to be displayed. If an observation occurs at intervals of time before the particle(s) enters one slit or the other than that particle scenario creates more of the particle side of the event to be shown by the observation actualizing the particle(s) into exact positions relative to the spacetime fabric. This act of observation will change what the resultant pattern will be on the screen on the other side of the double slit wall. This is because by the observation happening then one is changing the circumstances, and therefore the parameters of the experiment. By changing these parameters one is changing the probabilities for various events to happen.
If one slit is considered the left slit and the other the right slit then let an observation be made at the halfway position between the start of a particle from the light source and the double slit wall. Now, if the particle is shown to be on the left side of the left slit then the probability that is displayed due to the landscape of potentialities will change in the direction favoring the one particle actually going through the left slit. This change of the pattern on the screen is because the circumstances of the experiment have changed. Now let an observation occur at an interval halfway between the halfway position and the double slit wall. If the photon is still observed to be on the left side of the left slit then the potentiality landscape that is shown on the screen as a pattern will shift even more towards favoring the happening that it will enter the left slit instead of the right slit. As the particle observations are experienced closer and closer to the double slit wall the more the influence will be on the probabilities of happenings displayed on the screen.
Illustration by Jan Groupp
