You are correct to be under that impression as this is the current explanation insofar as it can be called an "explanation". It's more a of cheeky way out, like so many things are in quantum physics unfortunately. This is entirely my opinion but I've been studying QM for some time and it seems...
I would love to.
This is the measurement problem with a different suit on is it not? The question really is, what is a measuring device? Where does the Von Neumann chain end?
But I never meant to imply that you can observe elementary particles without them interacting with something else. But...
Well exactly, it's an endless chain of things observing other things but the difference is that electrons for example has mass and charge, they have observable properties. An electron can exist on it's own, a photon is only a packet of energy.
If there's one vital thing QM has taught us, it's...
I'm not sure you understand my point. That experiment perfectly demonstrates what I'm talking about. They do not directly detect the photon but instead measure the energy of something that the photon interacts with. It specifically states in the first paragraph "When an incoming X-ray hits the...
Ahh but not directly! This is the point I'm making my good man. The only way for us to measure that energy is for the photon to interact with something else such as an electron. We measure the energy of the electrons that the light interacts with, not the light itself. Combining this fact with...
Because we don't encounter it! Try to think outside the box here... Isn't it apparent that with all difficulties in interpretations we're facing in QM that it's time to think a little differently. The only way we experience light is as a transfer agent for energy, we never directly deal with...
First of all thanks for the response. Secondly, I must disagree that asking if something actually exists is pointless. Physicists used to believe in the existence of the Aether but we have since done away with that. I agree that asking aimless existential questions may not be helpful but there...
My question is a little more broad than I could make clear in the title but here goes.
First of all, to be clear, am I correct in understanding that light behaves in precisely the same way as an electron in the sense that there exists a wave function which evolves according the Schrodinger...
You might not realize it but I believe the question you are asking is actually a very important one. The lack of particularly helpful responses is largely because "we don't know". That is to say, the common quantum physicist doesn't know, though they'd never admit it.
Your question pertains to...