Quantum Paradoxes

The most successful scientific theory in history,quantum mechanics,has to date defied intuition. One reason for this is that it is generally believed that there is no objective reality in the quantum domain because of the necessary disturbance that happens in the process of measurement.  This led Niels Bohr, one of the principle founders of quantum theory to exclaim: “Anyone who is not shocked by quantum mechanics hasn’t understood it.”

In this talk, I will discuss new measurements that do not disturb the observed quantum system. These measurements have shed new light on the most puzzling features of quantum mechanics, such as interference, entanglement, etc. Secondly, they have  uncovered a host of new quantum phenomena, which were previously hidden, and have stimulated discoveries in other areas of physics, including the emerging fields of quantum computation.

Examples include: a fundamental difference between classical and quantum mechanics is the a new kind of non-locality; past and future can be strangely entangled, producing fundamentally new phenomenon such as the Cheshire Cat states, experiments in which a particle can be in one box and its electric charge in another, or even stranger phenomenon such as a quantum time machine.

Finally, I will show how this approach sheds new light on the famous two slit interference effect which, according to Feynman, contains the deepest mystery of quantum mechanics.

This talk will also serve as an introduction to a new course “Quantum Paradoxes” PHYS 780 being taught this fall by Aharonov and Tollaksen which uses a new book Quantum Paradoxes: Quantum Theory for the Perplexed by Aharonov and Rohrlich (Wiley).