October 2, 2003
Starting with a down to earth interpretation of quantum mechanics for a free particle, the disappearance and reappearance of interference in the 2 slit problem with a detector behind one are treated in detail. A partial interpretation of quantum theory is employed which is simple, emphasizing description, yet adequate for addressing the present problem. Given that the eigenvalue equation is essential to predict a free particle's probability of collision, it is argued that there is equal need for a realistic theory to describe its possible motion. Feynman's point-to-point space-time wave packet is put forth and used as the appropriate description of the field-free motion between collisions. For a particle in a conventional 2-slit experiment with attempted detection behind one, the disappearance of interference is explained - both when the detection succeeds and when it doesn't. Also a definite prediction is made, when the inter-slit distance is reduced, of where the first signs of interference should appear on the detection screen.
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Experiments involving single or few elementary particles are completely described by Quantum Mechanics. Notwithstanding the success of that quantitative description, various aspects of observations, as nonlocality and the statistical randomness of results, remain as mysterious properties apart from the quantum theory, and they are attributed to the strangeness of the microscopic world. Here we restart from the fundamental relations of uncertainty to reformulate the probabilit...
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