arXiv subjects

Paul A. Klevgard

Publications and source records attributed to Paul A. Klevgard.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2023

The Mach-Zehnder Interferometer and Photon Dualism: with an Analysis of Nonlocality

The Mach-Zehnder Interferometer (MZI) is chosen to illustrate the long-standing wave particle duality problem. Why is which-way (welcher weg) information incompatible with wave interference? How to explain Wheeler's delayed choice experiment? Most crucially, how can the photon divide at the first beam splitter and yet terminate on either arm with its undiminished energy? The position advanced is that the photon has two identities, one supporting particle features and the other wave features. There is photon kinetic energy that never splits (on half-silvered mirrors) or diffracts (in pinholes or slits). Then there are photon probability waves that do diffract and can reinforce or cancel. Photon kinetic energy is oscillatory; its cycles require/occupy time. E = mc2 suggests that kinetic energy is physically real as occurrence in time just as rest mass is physically real as existence in space; both are quantized and both occupy/require a dimension for their occurrence or existence. Photon kinetic energy (KE) thus resides in time, but is still present/available for interactions (events) in space; rest mass (e.g., your desk) resides in space but is still present/available for interactions (events) in time. While photon probability waves progress in space and diffract there, photon KE resides in time and never diffracts in space; at reception it always arrives whole and imitates particle impact without being a particle. Photon probability waves are real; they diffract in space. Acknowledging that the photon has two identities (residing energy and progressing probability), explains photon dual nature. And wave-particle duality is central to quantum mechanics. Understanding it leads to new insights into entanglement, nonlocality and the measurement problem. Supporting video: https://youtu.be/A1Wabkr0YFE

physics.gen-ph↗

arXiv2021

Is the Photon Really a Particle? V.2

Photons deliver their energy and momentum to a point on a material target. It is commonplace to attribute this to particle impact. But since the inflight photon also has a wave nature, we are stuck with the paradox of wave and particle duality. It is argued here that the photon's wave nature is indisputable, but its particle nature is open to question. Photons deliver energy. The problem with invoking impact as a means of delivery is that energy becomes a payload which in turn requires a particle. This assumes that energy is always a payload and there is but one mode of energy delivery; surely two unsupported assumptions. It should be possible to explain photon termination without invoking particle impact. One approach offered here is to question the assumption that the photon is a unitary object. Perhaps the photon has two linked but distinct identities: one supporting wave behavior and the other supporting discrete behavior. It is the latter that might imitate particle impact.

physics.gen-ph↗

arXiv2021

Four Physics Puzzles Viewed Ontologically: Duality, Collapse, Probability and Nonlocality

Wave-particle duality, wave function collapse, objective probability and nonlocality constitute four prominent puzzles in modern physics. Although these four topics may appear unrelated, a closer examination reveals that they do share some common assumptions at the foundational level that have characterized physics for the last 100 years. Progress can be made on these four topics only if we understand and possibly revise some long-held assumptions. This essay examines physics from the ontological perspective. Are quantized matter and quantized energy both entities and if so what does that imply? Does matter reside in space and progress in time whereas energy (radiation) resides in time and progresses in space? If so, what does this tell us? Energy has two identities, potential and kinetic. Does mass have two identities and if not why not? The expectation is that answers to these and similar questions will help us understand the connections between the four puzzles listed above.

physics.hist-ph↗

arXiv2018

The Paradigm of Projectile Motion and its Consequences for Special Relativity. Making Sense of Physics

A new explanation for space contraction and time dilation in special relativity is offered based on kinetic energy differences between observers rather than velocity differences. The classical (Newtonian) concept of projectile motion underwent a series of seemingly minor changes and adjustments between the discovery of the quantum (Planck, 1900) and the early codification of quantum theory (Dirac, 1928). The goal of physicists in this period was to keep change to a minimum and preserve as much as possible of the traditional projectile paradigm (TPP). These adjustments were successful in masking an all-out projectile paradigm crisis, but they have left us with a conceptual muddle. This has been especially deleterious for special relativity and our understanding of space contraction and time dilation. A reinterpretation of projectile motion focusing on kinetic energy permits a new understanding of relativistic space contraction and time dilation.

physics.hist-ph↗

arXiv2016

Minkowski and Special Relativity: Does His Spacetime Geometry Explain Space Contraction?

For over a century Minkowskian spacetime has dominated discussions of space contraction and time dilation within special relativity. Brown and Pooley have called into question both the assumptions of Minkowski and the effects his presumed spacetime has upon objects in motion. But while they reject Minkowski, Brown and Pooley do not fill in the missing causal connection between velocity and space contraction and time dilation. To supply this causal connection between object and observer in relative motion we should be focusing on energy difference rather than velocity difference. When different inertial observers at different relative velocities measure the same rod (or clock), each observer registers a different amount of kinetic energy for the object. Following the consequences of this permits a new understanding of relativistic space contraction and time dilation.

physics.hist-ph↗

arXiv2014

Einstein and the Formal Equivalence of Mass and Energy

This is a brief look at how Einstein explored formal symmetries between quantized matter and quantized radiation between 1903 and 1925. Specifically he employed thermodynamic comparisons between the ideal molecular gas and the photon gas. His achievements are tied in with a more general pattern in physics to explore formal symmetries between quantized mass and quantized energy.

physics.hist-ph↗