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I am a physics groupie, so please excuse me if this question is stupid, but I am trying to better understand the particle/wave duality in quantum physics. It would seem that, in the double slit experiment or any similar experiment, there should be some method to tell the difference between two actual waves interfering (Schrodinger) and a probability wave (Einsteinian proposal) or a pilot wave (de Broglie proposal). If there are actually two waves interfering, there is both destructive and constructive interference. If not, there is just a distribution of particle hits. Is there not some way to design an experiment that would show which is actually happening?

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  • $\begingroup$ the single particle double slit experiments show that the wave structure appears in the space probability distribution, so no two actual waves interfering. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/… $\endgroup$
    – anna v
    Sep 1, 2014 at 4:56
  • $\begingroup$ The wave-particle duality is elegantly explained by quantum field theory. $\endgroup$ Sep 1, 2014 at 5:45

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The particle/wave duality is an old concept that has never done anything good for anyone (not even Einstein and de Broglie). It's time to let go of it, even among the "groupies". We know "how" quantum mechanics works and the answer is "neither".

What you are basically asking is for an experiment that can decide between two outright wrong models. Obviously, such an experiment does not exist.

So where do you go from here? I would suggest to read a wonderful book by Mr. Feynman: "QED: The strange theory of light and matter". I think it is by far the best book to "grok" what's really going on, and it uses a description and language that actually brings you from the 1920s right into the 21st century.

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  • $\begingroup$ And if one doesn't understand what "to grok" means, read "stranger in a strange land" first. This too is worth the effort. $\endgroup$ Sep 1, 2014 at 10:11
  • $\begingroup$ Yep, that's one of those cases in which scifi literature has added a very valuable word for a very valuable concept to the English language. $\endgroup$
    – CuriousOne
    Sep 1, 2014 at 10:25
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An experiment which should be able to be easy to perform by someone with access to a lab is to place two double slit experiments side by side.

Have a BBO crystal create a downconverted photon pair and have each of the pair interact with their own double slit experiment.

Close the outer exits to both double slit experiments.

If both photons exit the inside slit throw out the result.

Only keep the result if one of the photons exits the inside slit and the associated wave, from the other experiment, exits its inside slit.

Have these two interact as they exit the slits as if they were their own double slit experiment.

See if there is a difference in what is detected on the screen versus what is detected on the screen when only one of the inside slits is open at a time and all of the other three slits are closed.

If you compare the results of what is detected when both of the inside slits are open versus when only one, or the other, inside slit is open and there is a difference in what is detected then this is evidence something exited the slit of the double slit experiment where the photon didn't.

This result would refute all current theories except for de Broglie's wave mechanics and double solution theory.

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