期刊
SYMMETRY-BASEL
卷 13, 期 9, 页码 -出版社
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/sym13091660
关键词
matter-wave interferometry; Stern-Gerlach interferometer; quantum evolution; reversibility; Humpty-Dumpty problem; split-operator approximation; Suzuki-Trotter factorization
资金
- Ministry of Education
- National Research Foundation of Singapore
This study revisits the fundamental question of the reversibility of evolution in quantum mechanics, showing that the quantum dynamics of the transversal Stern-Gerlach interferometer is fundamentally irreversible even under ideal conditions with perfect control of the associated magnetic fields and beams.
Originally conceived as a thought experiment, an apparatus consisting of two Stern-Gerlach apparatuses joined in an inverted manner touched on the fundamental question of the reversibility of evolution in quantum mechanics. Theoretical analysis showed that uniting the two partial beams requires an extreme level of experimental control, making the proposal in its original form unrealizable in practice. In this work, we revisit the above question in a numerical study concerning the possibility of partial-beam recombination in a spin-coherent manner. Using the Suzuki-Trotter numerical method of wave propagation and a configurable, approximation-free magnetic field, a simulation of a transversal Stern-Gerlach interferometer under ideal conditions is performed. The result confirms what has long been hinted at by theoretical analyses: the transversal Stern-Gerlach interferometer quantum dynamics is fundamentally irreversible even when perfect control of the associated magnetic fields and beams is assumed.
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