Dephasing and collapse in continuous measurement of a single system

Abstract

We show that long standing debates on the collapse and the role of the observer in quantum mechanics can be resolved experimentally via a nondistructive continuous monitoring of a single quantum system. An example of such a system, coupled with the point-contact detector is presented. The detailed quantum mechanical analysis of the entire system (including the detector) shows that under certain conditions the measurement collapse would generate distinctive effects in the detector behavior, which can be experimentally investigated.