I Double Slit Experiment: Measurement versus Observation

Praxiteles
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TL;DR Summary
Measurement versus Observation
I'm curious if the double slit experiment has ever been done where the equipment is in place and enable to monitor which slit the particle goes through, but the data is destroyed before anyone ever sees it.
 
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Praxiteles said:
TL;DR Summary: Measurement versus Observation

I'm curious if the double slit experiment has ever been done where the equipment is in place and enable to monitor which slit the particle goes through, but the data is destroyed before anyone ever sees it.
It may have happened by accident!
 
Praxiteles said:
TL;DR Summary: Measurement versus Observation

I'm curious if the double slit experiment has ever been done where the equipment is in place and enable to monitor which slit the particle goes through, but the data is destroyed before anyone ever sees it.
Depending on your exact definition of "data is destroyed before anyone ever sees it": The answer is yes. If the which slit information is present in the system, but without there being any detection mechanism whatsoever, then you see no interference pattern. The mere possibility of obtaining that information is enough to eliminate that. In the following experiment, which-path markers are placed on photons on the way to a screen. See figure 9, no DS interference. They then "erase" the marker, which then restores the interference pattern. See figure 10.

Young's double-slit experiment with single photons and quantum eraser

No human knowledge is required, because no human ever possesses any.
 
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You may have a misconception about what "observation" means in quantum theory. It means that the wave in question has interacted with something to give a result. Whether a human observed the interaction or result is irrelevant to the quantum theory.
 
Insights auto threads is broken atm, so I'm manually creating these for new Insight articles. Towards the end of the first lecture for the Qiskit Global Summer School 2025, Foundations of Quantum Mechanics, Olivia Lanes (Global Lead, Content and Education IBM) stated... Source: https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/quantum-entanglement-is-a-kinematic-fact-not-a-dynamical-effect/ by @RUTA
If we release an electron around a positively charged sphere, the initial state of electron is a linear combination of Hydrogen-like states. According to quantum mechanics, evolution of time would not change this initial state because the potential is time independent. However, classically we expect the electron to collide with the sphere. So, it seems that the quantum and classics predict different behaviours!
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