Complementarity in the double-slit experiment: Quantum nonseparability and a quantitative statement of Bohr's principle

1979; American Physical Society; Volume: 19; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1103/physrevd.19.473

ISSN

1538-4500

Autores

William K. Wootters, Wojciech H. Zurek,

Tópico(s)

Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics

Resumo

A detailed analysis of Einstein's version of the double-slit experiment, in which one tries to observe both wave and particle properties of light, is performed. Quantum nonseparability appears in the derivation of the interference pattern, which proves to be surprisingly sharp even when the trajectories of the photons have been determined with fairly high accuracy. An information-theoretic approach to this problem leads to a quantitative formulation of Bohr's complementarity principle for the case of the double-slit experiment. A practically realizable version of this experiment, to which the above analysis applies, is proposed.

Referência(s)