António Cardoso
FCUL

Abstract
Young's double-slit experiment, which demonstrates the interference of light by division of wavefront, was seen during the last century as one of the main evidences for the wave-particle duality described by quantum mechanics. The nature of the wave-like behavior of particles was, however, the source of an intense debate from which two main interpretations arised: the more popular Copenhagen interpretation, where the wave represents the probability of observing a particle in a certain state, and the alternative Paris interpretation, which claims that the wave is real and guides the particle along a path of highest intensity. For many decades no experiment was able to distinguish between these two cases, leaving the debate on hold. In this talk I will argue that a recent, more sophisticated double-slit experiment shows that the wave responsible for the interference pattern is more than a probability wave, and therefore has to be real.

2015 January 29, 11:00

IA/U.Lisboa
Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa (C8.2.04)
Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisboa