Possible direct physical detection of de Broglie waves

doi:10.1016/0375-9601(81)90346-7

Physics Letters A

Volume 86, Issue 8, 7 December 1981, Pages 397-400

https://doi.org/10.1016/0375-9601(81)90346-7 Get rights and content

Abstract

A modified version of the Mandel-Pfleegor experiment implies conflicting measurable predictions of the Copenhagen and statistical interpretations of quantum mechanics. Their detection would help to choose between the antagonistic positions of Bohr and Einstein in the Bohr-Einstein controversy.

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Genesis of Karl Popper's EPR-like experiment and its resonance amongst the physics community in the 1980s
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Popper answered that he did “not deserve it” (letter to Vigier of 07/10/1980, PA, 358/25), but Vigier did not give up, stating: “I feel your suggestion […] is so important that I would not dare publish [sic] it without your signature” and he concluded the letter affirming: “it is a great pleasure (and honor) to fight for the old Einstein on your side” (15/10/1980, PA, 487/11). So Popper, under the persistence of Vigier's proposals, eventually accepted, as proved by the two publications which respectively appeared on Epistemological Letters, in July 1981 (Garuccio, Popper and Vigier, 1981a) and on the more notable Physics Letters A, in December (Garuccio, Popper and Vigier, 1981b).18 The aim of the proposed experiment - and this can easily explain Popper's interest in collaborating with Vigier - was to demonstrate “conflicting measurable predictions of the Copenhagen and statistical interpretations of quantum mechanics” (Garuccio, Popper and Vigier, 1981b).
I present the reconstruction of the involvement of Karl Popper in the community of physicists concerned with foundations of quantum mechanics, in the 1980s. At that time Popper gave active contribution to the research in physics, of which the most significant is a new version of the EPR thought experiment, alleged to test different interpretations of quantum mechanics. The genesis of such an experiment is reconstructed in detail, and an unpublished letter by Popper is reproduced in the present paper to show that he formulated his thought experiment already two years before its first publication in 1982. The debate stimulated by the proposed experiment as well as Popper's role in the physics community throughout 1980s is here analysed in detail by means of personal correspondence and publications.
The origins of the research on the foundations of quantum mechanics (and other critical activities) in Italy during the 1970s
2017, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B - Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics
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During the 1970s, Selleri started building a series of international collaborations (Augusto Garuccio spent one year in Moskow, from June 1974)24 and in particular with the Fondation Louis de Broglie in Paris (Selleri was in contact, since 1978, with George Lochak, Pierre Claverie, Simon Diner, Olivier Costa de Beauregardand he met several times with De Broglie himself).25 A long lasting collaboration was established, in 1978, with Jean Pierre Vigier (1920–2004) still in Paris (Cufaro-Petroni & Vigier, 1979; Garuccio & Vigier, 1980; Selleri & Vigier, 1980). This fully involved Nicola Cufaro-Petroni (who spent 1978-79 in Paris with Vigier) and Augusto Garuccio (who worked in Paris with Vigier in 1980).
We present a reconstruction of the studies on the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics carried out in Italy at the turn of the 1960s. Actually, they preceded the revival of the interest of the American physicists towards the foundations of quantum mechanics around mid-1970s, recently reconstructed by David Kaiser in a book of 2011. An element common to both cases is the role played by the young generation, even though the respective motivations were quite different. In the US they reacted to research cuts after the war in Vietnam, and were inspired by the New Age mood. In Italy the dissatisfaction of the young generations was rooted in the student protests of 1968 and the subsequent labour and social fights, which challenged the role of scientists. The young generations of physicists searched for new scientific approaches and challenged their own scientific knowledge and role. The criticism to the foundations of quantum mechanics and the perspectives of submitting them to experimental tests were perceived as an innovative research field and this attitude was directly linked to the search for an innovative and radical approach in the history of science. All these initiatives gave rise to booming activity throughout the 1970s, contributing to influence the scientific attitude and the teaching approach.
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Possible direct physical detection of de Broglie waves

Abstract

Possible experimental test of the causal stochastic interpretation of quantum mechanics

Found. Phys.

Une interprétation causale et nonlinéaire de la mécanique ondulatoire

Phys. Rev.

Phys. Rev.

Lett. Nuovo Cimento

Lett. Nuovo Cimento

Int. J. Theor. Phys.

Phys. Rev.

J. Opt. Soc. Am.

The principles of quantum mechanics

Phys. Rev.