A quantum field theoretic description of the delayed choice experiment
Abstract
Wheeler's delayed choice experiment, a well known manifestation of the complementarity principle, has proved somewhat difficult to physically interpret. We show that, restated in quantum field theoretic language, the experiment submits to a simple explanation: that wave- or particle-nature is imposed not at the slit plane but at the detector system. The intepretational difficulty conventionally encountered is due to the assumption of enforcement of complementarity at the former.
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