[Physics] Practically, how does an ‘observer’ collapse a wave function

double-slit-experimentobserversquantum mechanicswavefunction-collapse

I have been reading/learning about the double slit experiment, its implications in quantum theory, and how it explained that “particles” can behave as both waves and particles.

I know that the wave function is a probability of the location of the particle, and that shooting the electrons through the double slits causes an interference pattern associated with multiple waves. This, though not making intuitive sense (in relation to how anything can even exist as a wave), is something I can follow.

However, I have read/heard that an “observer” collapses the wave function into a single point. This is what caused the electrons to actually show up on the wall behind the slit; however Feynman (admittedly, as a thought experiment) suggested that putting an “observer” prior to the slits would cause the electrons to fly through as particles, and leave no interference pattern on the back wall.

What is an “observer”? How and why would the electron “know” it is being observed and therefore cause it to change behavior?

Best Answer

The other answers here, while technically correct, might not be presented at a level appropriate to your apparent background.

When the electron interacts with any other system in such a way that the other system's behavior depends on the electron's (e.g., it records one thing if the electron went left and another if it went right), then the electron no longer has a wave function of its own: the electron+"detector" system has a joint state. The two are entangled.

The electron doesn't have to "know" anything. The simple physical interaction results in a state vector which, by the laws of quantum mechanics, will preclude interference by any of the subsystems of this larger system. That said, the joint state can itself show a kind of "interference effect" (though not the kind you normally think of in the two-slit experiment).

If this entanglement is well-controlled (as in a lab), then (a) showing this "joint interference" might be practical, and (b) undoing the entanglement is also possible, thus restoring the electron's sole superposition. This is how we know that it hasn't "collapsed."

But if the entanglement is caused by stray photons, air molecules, etc., then any hope of controlling them becomes almost immediately dashed, and we can no longer exhibit interference in practice. From here on out, the system will appear to behave classically, with the different branches evolving independently. This fact is called decoherence. The superposition still hasn't "collapsed," but we no longer have the ability to show or exploit the superposition.

You may notice that this still leaves open a crucial question: when do the many branches become one? This is called the measurement problem, and physicists don't agree on the answer even today.

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