Can Length Contraction Cause Diffraction in Quantum Mechanics?

cragar
Messages
2,546
Reaction score
3
What if I had a double slit setup and I was shooting electrons through them. But in the rest frame the slits were to big to bring out the diffraction effect. But then suppose I move by the 2 slits at significant speed to length contract the slits to where diffraction would be eminent.
Would i see diffraction or does the wave function change with speed to correct this. I don't know much about QM or QFT. Any help will be appreciated.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
You will always have some diffraction pattern, irrespective of the size of the slits.
 
Last edited:
I am not positive about the answer, and I like the question, but why not suppose the electron beam were moving similarly instead...and the slits fixed...would there be any difference between the two scenarios?? Seems like either would cause increased diffraction.

[Why is Chris Crhistie's picture on my website screen as I type this?? I like him, but I thought this was a "non politics zone".]
 
@ naty1 : your saying have the electron beam move and have the slits fixed. And that would also be the same as standing by the electron beam and see the slits moving by.
you i think those are the same. I was talking to someone at my school and he said that i would need to use QFT to analyze it and it would be tricky.
 
We often see discussions about what QM and QFT mean, but hardly anything on just how fundamental they are to much of physics. To rectify that, see the following; https://www.cambridge.org/engage/api-gateway/coe/assets/orp/resource/item/66a6a6005101a2ffa86cdd48/original/a-derivation-of-maxwell-s-equations-from-first-principles.pdf 'Somewhat magically, if one then applies local gauge invariance to the Dirac Lagrangian, a field appears, and from this field it is possible to derive Maxwell’s...
I read Hanbury Brown and Twiss's experiment is using one beam but split into two to test their correlation. It said the traditional correlation test were using two beams........ This confused me, sorry. All the correlation tests I learnt such as Stern-Gerlash are using one beam? (Sorry if I am wrong) I was also told traditional interferometers are concerning about amplitude but Hanbury Brown and Twiss were concerning about intensity? Isn't the square of amplitude is the intensity? Please...
Insights auto threads is broken atm, so I'm manually creating these for new Insight articles. Towards the end of the first lecture for the Qiskit Global Summer School 2025, Foundations of Quantum Mechanics, Olivia Lanes (Global Lead, Content and Education IBM) stated... Source: https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/quantum-entanglement-is-a-kinematic-fact-not-a-dynamical-effect/ by @RUTA

Similar threads

Replies
36
Views
7K
Replies
19
Views
3K
Replies
19
Views
2K
Replies
2
Views
1K
Replies
2
Views
3K
Replies
3
Views
1K
Replies
14
Views
2K
Replies
10
Views
2K
Back
Top