Is the Quantum Eraser Experiment Misunderstood in Pop Science?

[Trollfaz]

I keep hearing in pop science that the quantum eraser experiment shows that the interference pattern emerges again if the data of the photon is deleted.

I suspect what is really going on is that the scientists did something to the photons to affect their paths so that it cannot be determined. Am I right?

 

[Mentz114]

I keep hearing in pop science that the quantum eraser experiment shows that the interference pattern emerges again if the data of the photon is deleted.

I suspect what is really going on is that the scientists did something to the photons to affect their paths so that it cannot be determined. Am I right?

In the erasure experiments the data is not deleted. The transformation that 'deletes' the data is unitary and reversible and merely changes the basis. This can be reversed by another unitary transformation to restore the original state.