PART 11 · QUANTUM EXPERIMENTS
The Delayed-Choice Quantum Eraser
Delayed choice. A decision made later, a pattern that answers. Scroll, and choose.
IScientific description
In this experiment, photons are split into two possible paths.
Whether we observe or erase their path information
determines if they behave like particles or waves.
Astonishingly, even when the decision to erase is made after the photons have been detected,
the interference pattern adjusts as if the future choice affected the past.
Reference: PNAS (2013), Ma et al., “Quantum erasure with causally disconnected choice” · pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1213201110
IIRumi’s parallel
“Yesterday is gone and tomorrow has not yet come;
only this breath is real.”
IIIThe Now
For Rumi, the “present moment” is the point where all time converges.
Quantum physics now shows that observation — a conscious act —
may transcend the arrow of time.
Both poet and physicist meet in the same truth:
the Now creates reality.
◦What the experiment shows
Carry these with you
- IWhether we observe or erase the path decides: particle or wave.
- IIOnly this breath is real.
- IIIThe Now creates reality.
Tap a line to return to the moment it was born.
From erasing path information to the more fundamental question of observation.