Still some confusion with wave-particle experimental behavior

[Jmanm]

I have read the basics along with the interferometer experiment & feel I'm still not understanding it fully.

I understand measurement collapses the wave behavior, but I can't see how the photon can just pass through both slits or a beam splitter presumably as a wave of some sort.

Wouldn't the interaction with the actual slits itself qualify as measurement & prevent the interference pattern?

Why does it pass through two slits which is matter as a wave yet the actual impact/detection on screen (which is also matter) is a point?

Does this have to do with the direct angle it hits the screen? If so this would seem to really mean that passing through the slits

it exhibits mostly but not entirely wave behavior & the opposite with detection on the screen.

I understand the travelling particle is thought of as a wave or at least behaving like a wave.

Once the photon leaves the beam splitter I don't understand this wave behavior really. How does it travel in a straight line between

emission & detection if its a wave?

When I see particle interactions, they seem to show the outgoing particles now fanning out behaving like a wave again and the angle could be any value, so just confused how it maintains a straight path?

Finally, Is it possible that the wave while in transit is continuously interacting with the vacuum energy & other fields causing it to continually exist in a concrete way?

thanks

[Strange]

Wouldn't the interaction with the actual slits itself qualify as measurement & prevent the interference pattern?

 

 

The slits are hols, so there is nothing there to interact with. Some of the photons miss the holes and interact with (are absorbed by) the material in which the slits are cut. Those photons do not contribute to the interference pattern. Those that don't interact with that material pass through the holes and the next thing they encounter is the detector (or screen, or whatever).

 

 

If so this would seem to really mean that passing through the slits

it exhibits mostly but not entirely wave behavior & the opposite with detection on the screen.

 

That is pretty much it. That is what is mean by "wave-particle duality". You observe wave-like behaviour when it is "appropriate" (e.g. passing through slits, as in the classical version of the experiment) and point-like / particle-like behaviour when the photon is absorbed by an atom (it can't spread out and be absorbed by multiple atoms; it is all or nothing).

 

 

How does it travel in a straight line between

emission & detection if its a wave?

 

It is probably worth looking at the classical version first. You can see the circular wavefront spread out from the source, interact with the two slits and then spread out as two circular wavefronts from them (and then cause interference patterns).

 

In the individual photon case, you need to think of these wavefronts as describing the possible paths a photon could take. You can then sum the probabilities of all the different paths and calculate the probabilities for where the photon ends up. It turns out that these probabilities re-create the interference patterns generated by classical waves.

 

Hope that helps!

[Jmanm]

Thanks for reply.

 

You mentioned as it goes through the holes there is nothing there, this seems hard to grasp really. As it clearly exhibits a wave behavior that depends on the slits, so to me it looks like it is interating in someway with the material the slits are made of. Also what about the air molecules in the room?

 

In the individual photon case, you need to think of these wavefronts as describing the possible paths a photon could take. You can then sum the probabilities of all the different paths and calculate the probabilities for where the photon ends up. It turns out that these probabilities re-create the interference patterns generated by classical waves.

 

Hope that helps!

From the looks of diagrams the photon goes through a beam splitter but still really secretly in a straight line to the mirror. Like it always has 100% probability of hitting the mirror.