Testing the reality of Wigner's friend's experience

Kok-Wei Bong; Aníbal Utreras-Alarcón; Farzad Ghafari; Yeong-Cherng Liang; Nora Tischler; Eric G. Cavalcanti; Geoff J. Pryde; Howard M. Wiseman

doi:10.1117/12.2540002

30 December 2019 Testing the reality of Wigner's friend's experience

Kok-Wei Bong, Aníbal Utreras-Alarcón, Farzad Ghafari, Yeong-Cherng Liang, Nora Tischler, Eric G. Cavalcanti, Geoff J. Pryde, Howard M. Wiseman

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 11200, AOS Australian Conference on Optical Fibre Technology (ACOFT) and Australian Conference on Optics, Lasers, and Spectroscopy (ACOLS) 2019; 112001C (2019) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2540002
Event: ANZCOP, 2019, Melbourne, Australia

Abstract

Quantum mechanics is a robust theory which pro duces highly accurate predictions. Despite its successes, it is still plagued with controversies like the measure- ment problem. In short, the measurement problem is the conflict between the evolution of the wavefunction described by Schro¨dinger’s equation and the apparent collapse of the wavefunction after a measurement is done. The Wigner’s friend paradox illustrates the conflict be- tween the two rules. In the thought experiment, we consider an observer (Wigner’s friend) who is able to per- form measurement on the quantum system and assign a quantum state. Wigner is a super-observer who is able to measure the laboratory his friend is in and also as- sign a quantum state. This process, however, leads to a quantum state that does not ascribe a well-defined value to the outcome of the friend’s observation, in apparent contradiction with the friend’s perspective.

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Kok-Wei Bong, Aníbal Utreras-Alarcón, Farzad Ghafari, Yeong-Cherng Liang, Nora Tischler, Eric G. Cavalcanti, Geoff J. Pryde, and Howard M. Wiseman "Testing the reality of Wigner's friend's experience", Proc. SPIE 11200, AOS Australian Conference on Optical Fibre Technology (ACOFT) and Australian Conference on Optics, Lasers, and Spectroscopy (ACOLS) 2019, 112001C (30 December 2019); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2540002

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