Abstract
In this paper, a realistic interpretation (REIN) of the wave function in quantum mechanics is briefly presented. We demonstrate that in the REIN, the wave function of a microscopic object is its real existence rather than a mere mathematical description. Specifically, the quantum object can exist in disjointed regions of space just as the wave function is distributed, travels at a finite speed, and collapses instantly upon a measurement. Furthermore, we analyze the single-photon interference in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) using the REIN. Based on this, we propose and experimentally implement a generalized delayed-choice experiment, called the encounter-delayed-choice experiment, where the second beam splitter is decided whether or not to insert at the encounter of two sub-waves along the arms of the MZI. In such an experiment, the parts of the sub-waves, which do not travel through the beam splitter, show a particle nature, whereas the remaining parts interfere and thus show a wave nature. The predicted phenomenon is clearly demonstrated in the experiment, thus supporting the REIN idea.
Change history
20 March 2018
The article Realistic interpretation of quantum mechanics and encounter-delayed-choice experiment, written by GuiLu Long, Wei Qin, Zhe Yang, and Jun-Lin Li, was originally published online without open access. After publication in volume 61, issue 3: 030311 the author decided to opt for Open Choice and to make the article an open access publication. Therefore, the copyright of the article has been changed to © The Author(s) 2017 and the article is forthwith distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, duplication, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
The original article has been corrected.
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The original version of this article was revised due to a retrospective Open Access order.
A correction to this article is available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11433-018-9198-0
An erratum to this article is available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11433-018-9198-0.
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Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, duplication, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.
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Long, G., Qin, W., Yang, Z. et al. Realistic interpretation of quantum mechanics and encounter-delayed-choice experiment. Sci. China Phys. Mech. Astron. 61, 030311 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11433-017-9122-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11433-017-9122-2
Keywords
- wave function
- realistic interpretation
- Mach-Zehnder interferometer
- wave-particle duality