Reflecting light off satellite backs up Wheeler's quantum theory thought experiment

Xarog

Xarog

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A team of researchers with Università degli Studi di Padova and the Matera Laser Ranging Observatory in Italy has conducted experiments that add credence to John Wheeler's quantum theory thought experiment. In their paper published on the open access site Science Advances, the group describes their experiment and what they believe it showed.

The nature of light has proven to be one of the more difficult problems facing physicists. Nearly a century ago, experiments showed that light behaved like both a particle and a wave, but subsequent experiments seemed to show that light behaved differently depending on how it was tested, and weirdly, seemed to know how the researchers were testing it, changing its behavior as a result.

Back in the late 1970s, physicist Johan Wheeler tossed around a thought experiment in which he asked what would happen if tests allowed researchers to change parameters after a photon was fired, but before it had reached a sensor for testing—would it somehow alter its behavior mid-course? He also considered the possibilities as light from a distant quasar made its way through space, being lensed by gravity. Was it possible that the light could somehow choose to behave as a wave or a particle depending on what scientists here on Earth did in trying to measure it? In this new effort, the team in Italy set out to demonstrate the ideas that Wheeler had proposed—but instead of measuring light from a quasar, they measured light bounced from a satellite back to Earth.

The experiment consisted of shooting a laser beam at a beam splitter, which aimed the beam at a satellite traveling in low Earth orbit, which reflected it back to Earth. But as the light traveled back to Earth, the researchers had time to make a choice whether or not to activate a second beam splitter as the light was en route. Thus, they could test whether the light was able to sense what they were doing and respond accordingly. The team reports that the light behaved just as Wheeler had predicted—demonstrating either particle-like or wave-like behavior, depending on the behavior of those studying it.
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https://phys.org/news/2017-10-satellite-wheeler-quantum-theory-thought.html
 
I hope I'm still alive by the time we figure this stuff out. Fascinating!
 
WARP .....

Xarog said:
https://phys.org/news/2017-10-satellite-wheeler-quantum-theory-thought.html
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I wonder how this is going to affect Einsteins theories ?
Faster than the speed of light ... ( depends on whether the light wants you to or not )

What they had to figure out before they could implement -- WARP

On 05 April 2063, Cochrane and Lily Sloane launched the first successful warpflight test from Bozeman, Montana, using elements of a Titan missile.
(Star Trek: First Contact)

http://stexpanded.wikia.com/wiki/Zefram_Cochrane
 
According to some reading I did on the phys.org site, this "spooky action at a distance" is not coupled to the spacetime framework, so technically, no information travelled faster than light, so Einstein's theory is safe for now.

Of course, there is not really any kind of framework to explain the phenomenon; we can observe it, perform experiments with it, use it, but not explain it. Kind of like a teenage boy and his first girlfriend.
 
I am not discounting the pilot wave idea to explain the particle-wave properties of photons and other particles.
 
 
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Techne said:
I am not discounting the pilot wave idea to explain the particle-wave properties of photons and other particles.
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I actually think that quantum superpositions are bubbles in the fabric of time. Wave-function collapse pops the bubble.
 
It all makes sense to me when I consider that there is no such thing as a particle. Not sure if that is true but as some of you know I just can't stand (nor understand) QT at all :o That is until I view everything as waves, then it all makes much more sense to me... for now. The idea that light itself "chooses" is absurd. But the idea that it is our observation that is doing the "choosing" and our brains are converting the information from wave to particle when we observe just fits nicely for me.

/hope nobody ruins it :p
 
Bobbin said:
It all makes sense to me when I consider that there is no such thing as a particle. Not sure if that is true but as some of you know I just can't stand (nor understand) QT at all :o That is until I view everything as waves, then it all makes much more sense to me... for now. The idea that light itself "chooses" is absurd. But the idea that it is our observation that is doing the "choosing" and our brains are converting the information from wave to particle when we observe just fits nicely for me.

/hope nobody ruins it :p
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Except for the brain part you are correct in terms of current knowledge.
This is quantum field theory.
 
The really intriguing aspect of all this is that if you treated the fabric of spacetime as data and probability, instead of particles and waves, this starts to make sense and adds weight to the simulation hypothesis. Apparently, this possibility is now a serious consideration within the leading edge of physics theory.
 
garp said:
The really intriguing aspect of all this is that if you treated the fabric of spacetime as data and probability, instead of particles and waves, this starts to make sense and adds weight to the simulation hypothesis. Apparently, this possibility is now a serious consideration within the leading edge of physics theory.
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Maybe Douglas Adams got it right all along...
 
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