The pattern of one photon at a time passing through large-distance setups?

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on the behavior of single photons passing through slits in double-slit and single-slit experiments. When photons are emitted one at a time, they still produce an interference pattern on the screen, identical to that produced by a high-intensity beam. This phenomenon occurs because the phase of the wave function remains constant regardless of intensity, and the interference pattern is determined by the relative phases of the wave functions from the slits. The analysis highlights that while single photons interact with the edges of the slits, they do not interact with the empty space within the slit itself.

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  • #31
PeterDonis said:
For a single slit, 3 cm might already be too large to get significant diffraction effects with visible light, since it is about a hundred thousand times larger than the wavelength.
A very wide single slit is simply two instances of edge diffraction, facing each other. If you move the edges closer together, the two edge-diffraction patterns merge in a complicated way. The result has to be calculated using the methods of Fresnel diffraction. When the slit becomes narrow enough, you get the familiar simple single-slit pattern of Fraunhofer diffraction.
 
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  • #32
PeterDonis said:
Then you won't see an interference pattern on the detector.No. You still won't see an interference pattern on the detector.See above.
and also, regarding the "bundle of pencils", I'd just like to ask, what are your thoughts on the simplified notion (if I am hopefully allowed to mention this notion, for the purposes of trying to cover the scenario more comprehensively) that making it a "full gushing waterfall" will enable the wave(function)s of the multiple "pencils" to blend together, and thereby resulting in an overall larger "effective width"

So I understand that you've said on this "See above.", relating to the prior answers, though from my perspective, what I'm adding might be a new different line of reasoning, or approaching the scenario from a different viewpoint
 
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  • #33
tade said:
what are your thoughts on the simplified notion (if I am hopefully allowed to mention this notion, for the purposes of trying to cover the scenario more comprehensively) that making it a "full gushing waterfall" will enable the wave(function)s of the multiple "pencils" to blend together, and thereby resulting in an overall larger "effective width"
I've already told you: that's not how it works.

tade said:
from my perspective, what I'm adding might be a new different line of reasoning, or approaching the scenario from a different viewpoint
Your perspective is flawed.

You should be spending your time and effort learning the math of QM and how it is used to make predictions. You should not be spending your time trying to dream up ever more elaborate scenarios that are just going to be flawed because you don't understand how QM works. That is not a good use of your time, and it's not a good use of the time of the posters here who are responding to you.
 
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