A direct test for instantaneous collapse of wave functions in configuration space

Abstract

Wavefunction collapse is a puzzling aspect of quantum mechanics. Designing a test to confirm the instantaneousness of collapse has turned out to be challenging, especially for collapse in configuration space. We propose a test using two identical, non-local, correlated photons in an interferometer in which a post-selection measurement of one of the photons in its location changes the statistical behavior of the other photon, which is an arbitrarily large distance away, and thus its detectable subsequent behavior. Analysis of the resulting correlations constitutes a test of the instantaneousness (or non-instantaneousness) of collapse. Connections to some of the recent proposed models of collapse are discussed