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kirsten_2009
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Homework Statement
With respect to the Rarity-Tapster experiment which shows the interference pattern of photons as support for the idea of quantum entanglement...what would the graph look like if these photons behaved like ordinary Newtonian particles?
Homework Equations
There is a graph that shows a wave with several peaks and troughs as a function of y-x vs. number of 2-particle impacts...which I am having trouble uploading =(
The Attempt at a Solution
I am not sure if this is an experiment with which everyone in the physics community is familiar with; since I am myself new to physics but basically there is a source of 2 photons which are "entangled" (this concepts still eludes me a bit) and as each photon goes through a separate set of slits; it's impact is recorded on a screen. When this experiment is repeated numerous times and the impact points of photon 1 (x) and photon 2 (y) are graphed as the difference between y and x (y-x) then an interference pattern is apparent.
So...if these were Newtonian particles I think that because the two photons move in opposite directions, they would have impacted at the same distances below the halfway of the first screen and above the halfway of the second screen.So, x=y which would make for a straight diagonal line with a slope of 1 and a y-intercept of 0...correct?
Also, if it's not too much hassle, can someone just explain to me quantum entanglement in layman terms?
Thanks as always for all the help, it is incredible appreciated!