Which-way measurement and momentum kicks

Centre for Theoretical Physics, Jamia Millia Islamia - New Delhi, India

^(a) tabish@ctp-jamia.res.in

Received: 18 May 2018
Accepted: 6 August 2018

Abstract

The two-slit interference experiment with a which-way detector has been a topic of intense debate. The scientific community is divided on the question whether the particle receives a momentum kick because of the process of which-way measurement. It is shown here that the same experiment can be viewed in two different ways, depending on which basis of the which-way detector states one chooses to look at. In one view, the loss of interference arises due to the entanglement of the two paths of the particle with two orthogonal states of the which-way detector. In another view, the loss of interference can be interpreted as arising from random momentum kicks of magnitude received by the particle, d being the slit separation. The same scenario is shown to hold for a three-slit interference experiment. The random momentum kicks for the three-slit case are of two kinds, of magnitude . The analysis is also generalized to the case of n-slit interference. The two alternate views are described by the same quantum state, and hence are completely equivalent. The concept of “local” vs. “nonlocal” kicks, much discussed in the literature, is not needed here.