XPost: sci.physics   
   From: ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de   
      
   john larkin  wrote or quoted:   
   >Single photons sure behave like particles, especially the energetic   
   >ones.   
      
     Wave-like interference can be observed in the famous double-slit   
     experiment. Now, what happens when we reduce the intensity of the   
     incoming light to one single photon? We get one single spot on the   
     detector screen! So, does this mean "no wave behavior"? Well, when   
     we repeat this with many single photons, one after the other, in   
     the end, we get the same interference pattern on that screen created   
     by all those dots!   
      
     In 1986, a rigorously controlled experiment was designed by   
     Grangier, G. Roger, and A. Aspect, [Europhys Lett. 1(4), p. 173,   
     1986] that guaranteed a single-photon beam. The explanation of the   
     experimental results implied the interference of the wave function   
     of a single-photon with itself. This was disputed in 2018 by   
     Parra, but good quantum textbooks like [1] take this for granted.   
      
     [1] "2.1 The photon in the interferometer" in "Quantum Processes,   
     Systems, and Information" (2010) - Benjamin Schumacher   
      
     Yes, /that/ Schumacher who coined "qubit"!   
      
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