Phys.org June 17, 2019
In a double slit experiment an international team of researchers (China, Australia, Sweden) reconstructed the hypothesised motion of the quantum particles, from many different possible starting points across both slits, and for both results of the measurement. They compared the velocities over time when there was no measurement device present to those when there was, and so determined the change in the velocities as a result of the measurement. The experiment showed that the effect of the measurement on the velocity of the particles continued long after the particles had cleared the measurement device itself, as far as 5 metres away from it. By that point, in the far field, the cumulative change in velocity was just large enough, on average, to wash out the ripples in the interference pattern. So, in the end, Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle emerges triumphant…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Quantum particles are not really just particles… they are also waves. Credit: Shutterstock/agsandrew