In my little book on physics, The Velcro Universe, I suggest a solution to the double slit experiment in which particles disturb an ether as they move through space. This disturbance accompanies the particles, and cause them to interfere with each other and themselves.
As it happens, this is not as novel an idea as I thought when I wrote
the chapter on the double slit experiment. A similar solution was proposed as early as 1927 by
Louis de Broglie. He suggested that a pilot wave accompanied all particles.
The main difference between de Broglie's
Pilot Wave Theory and the mechanism outlined in The Velcro Universe is that de Broglie never gives an explanation as to what the pilot wave consists of. Instead, he invokes a mysterious
Hidden Variable Theory.
It is still unclear to me why the early quantum physics theorists were so opposed to invoking an ether when it would have solved so many of their problems.
No comments:
Post a Comment