Thursday 7 September 2017

The Double-Slit Experiment Of Quantum Theory Through Systemic Functional Linguistics [14]

Gribbin (1989: 229):
But when both holes are open, there is a clear diffraction pattern on the screen.  The flashes that mark the arrival of individual electrons form bright stripes separated by dark regions.  This is explained by the wavelike nature of electrons.  The electron waves going through the two holes are interfering with one another, cancelling out in some places and reinforcing in others, just like light waves.

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From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic theory, this confuses potential (wave) with instance (particle).  The pattern on the detection screen appears even when it is built up one electron at a time — that is, when no interference between electrons is possible.  However, the pattern can be explained by treating the statistical distribution of individual electrons as instances of the probabilities of quantum system potential.  Probability is the quantification of potential, frequency is the quantification of instances.

On this explanation, particles, not waves, go through the holes, and each particle goes through one hole or the other, not through both.

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