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In the double slit experiment with photons (or electrons) sent one by one, it is well known that the interference pattern appears slowly on the screen, while we observe one by one the apparition of photons (or electrons) on the screen. This is one of the paradox of quantum mechanics.

What would happen now, still with the double slits experiment, if we put the source immediatly in front of one of the slit (the second slit is still open), but the second slit is so far of the first source that we are sure that the photon will enter in the first slit (but the second slit is still open).

Will the second slit have a consequence on the pattern on the screen ?

If for this configuration, we observe a diffraction pattern, then we could argue that the "standard interference pattern", in the case of double slit experiment where the source is not so close to one of the source, is just due to the fact that photons enter one by one in one of the two slits, and due to current scientific unknowledge in their exact trajectography (the slit has always a non null thickness to the photons could bounce in a very complex way inside the sides of the slit), this gives the interference pattern, and thus we could still stick to a interpretation that photons behave just as particles, and thus this experiment would "not need" a wave interpretation.

So : what would happen for the interference pattern of double slit experiment with photon (or electron) if we put the source immediately in front of one of the slit (far from the second slit)

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    $\begingroup$ The weight of the second slit paths in the final superposition should just decrease, and eventually almost disappear. $\endgroup$
    – J.Ask
    Commented Feb 7, 2021 at 11:24

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I think it will be difficult to do the experiment, because you probably will not find a lightsource that is small enough to have no effect on the second slit. Also, I haven't understood why you need a double slit for your experiment? Interference patterns also appear on single slits. Your bouncing theory sounds reasonable, but you will need a model of the creation of the interference patterns. That model should in my opinion first consider the easiest case of a single slit. Maybe a sophisticated raytracer could be helpful to simulate the patterns.

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  • $\begingroup$ Thank you. Indeed, in my scenario hypothesis, the interference should appear already with one slit only, which is not the case. So my hypothesis could not work $\endgroup$
    – Mathieu Krisztian
    Commented Feb 7, 2021 at 13:50

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