In reply to [EMAIL PROTECTED]'s message of Wed, 05 Jul 2006 19:52:58 -0400: Hi, [snip] >TB: That is the simple answer; but, it does not jive with current SQM >experiments. In this case, we are speaking of *single* photon >interference patterns.
I'm not even sure there is such a thing. OTOH it's also possible that a photon can *only* interfere with itself (i.e. not with any other photon). It's also possible that there is no such thing as a photon. >They create interference patterns because of >Feynman's "sum of histories" concept. No, they were doing it long before Feynman was born. ;^) >The interference pattern is a >result of the probabilites that the photon can follow either path with >a certain probability. When the photon path is known, the photon does >not go away. The photon is detected at the convergence point; however, >it is detected as a particle. It is not stopped at the detector. No, only photons that were not detected at all (at either slit) reach the convergence point, unless you start out with a very energetic photon which loses some energy at the first detector, and is consequently also scattered in the process.(BTW you appear to have two detectors here). [snip] Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://users.bigpond.net.au/rvanspaa/ Competition provides the motivation, Cooperation provides the means.
