That's a might neat article. I was wondering whether macroscopic objects would be just in the domain of decoherence forever or whether they might be able to follow quantum rules. I wasn't expecting anyone to find out so fast!
Ed said:
Is it possible that when we view photons that have travelled billions of light years to reach our retinas, some of what we're observing may be the same photon having travelled more than one possible pathway? In other words, are we seeing actual objects or probabilities?
I wish I knew what the
meaning of quantum probabilities were: is it something that actually traveled both paths? Is it the quantum object itself in superposition, or is it something like Bohm's pilot waves? They always resolve themselves to something, regardless of the in-between weirdness. You always get (or don't get) a photon, even when interference patterns are involved.
I'm pretty sure we're seeing some resolutions of superimposed states, though I'm not sure of how this affects our perception. I remember reading that some kinds of interferometry rely on such quantum effects... I think it was in Nick Herbert's book talking about how you could get interference fringes appearing and disappearing if the detectors were hooked up over about the size of a parking lot and beyond that, they would disappear, but I don't remember the details, if indeed any were provided.
