• Quantum mechanics is one of the best-tested theories in science, and it's one of the few where physicists get to do experiments proving that Einstein was wrong. From: Physicists Prove Einstein Wrong With 'Spooky' Quantum Experiment [4] - NBC News, Jesse Emspak - March 2015
• Reality does not exist until we measure it, quantum experiment confirms. Mind = blown. From: www.sciencealert.com, Fiona McDonald [5] - June 2015
• One of the oddest predictions of quantum theory - that a system cannot change while you're watching it - has been confirmed in an experiment by Cornell physicists. From: ''Zeno effect' verified - atoms won't move while you watch' [6] - Phys.org - Bill Steele - October 2015
The aim of this book is that the reader should ultimately be able to judge, understand and value messages and statements like these on their own. At the end, we will investigate whether we can arrive at an explanatory model of nature in which all basic quantum phenomena are given a suitable place. That we can understand it without having to include and suffer inexplicable paradoxes. In order to achieve that lofty goal, we shouldn't be scared off by paradoxes we will meet on the way. Instead, I aim to use these as the important road marks and signposts on the path to understanding reality.
In this book I will approach quantum physics in the way I learned at the university, the scientific way: hypothesis, observations, predictions and experiments. From this should rise an explanation of the quantum world, as simple, acceptable and satisfying as possible.
1: Paradoxes - 'I know how it is'
"The opposite of a fact is falsehood, but the opposite of one profound truth may very well be another profound truth."
Niels Bohr, quantum physicist 1885-1962
What are paradoxes? Paradoxes are apparent contradictions with the emphasis on 'apparent'. My approach in this book will be that every paradox we encounter is telling us that at least one of our basic assumptions is wrong. Thus, if we encounter a paradox we are essentially invited to investigate where and how we went wrong. Such an investigation could uncover astounding new views on reality, views we deemed impossible. We just assumed that we knew 'how it is'. Fortunately, quantum physics abounds with interesting paradoxes and counter-intuitive statements such as:
'Each physical object is simultaneously both a wave and a particle or a composite of elementary particles.'
'A particle - or a composite of particles - can exist simultaneously in several places - almost everywhere and every time'. Statements like this are often expressed in articles describing new quantum physics experiments and in popular science books on quantum physics.
'Two or more physical objects with a shared history remain connected, even when they are on opposite sides of the galaxy'. How does this relate to the fundamental statement of the theory of relativity that nothing - including information - can travel faster than the speed of light?
'According to the interpretation of the Copenhagen school of quantum physicists, Bohr and Heisenberg, an object only exists in a physical sense when measured'. Where was the object prior to the measurement? What is the definition of a measurement? How does a measurement accomplish this feat?
The Ames room, how our brain deceives us
Knowing 'how things work' can be an obstacle to perceiving things as they are. Let's experience the Ames Room illusion.
The image below shows how we are visually deceived by the 'Ames Room'. Such a room has its dimensions adjusted to such an extent that - from a certain point of view - the objects and people in it seem to be too big or too small. We are being tripped up visually.
Figure 1.1: Ames room.
Source: siz.io
Figure 1.2: Ames Room.
Source: commons.wikimedia.org
Now imagine some stubborn person Mr. S who does not want to accept the distorted dimensions of the Ames room. What he sees, he says, is real. This Mr. S then will need a satisfactory explanation for his observation of objects changing their apparent sizes when moving through the room. He might for example, come up with an 'Ames' form field hypothesis. A hypothesis which assumes a certain kind of field that, depending on the position of objects in that field, enlarges or reduces its dimensions. This Ames field hypothesis can be formulated easily in such a way that it is predictive in spite of its wrongness.
Assume the Ames form field hypothesis being set up so that depending on the location of objects in the Ames room those objects grow or shrink physically. The stubborn rectangular box room believer, Mr. S, will now be able to predict correctly what will happen to the ball when it is thrown at the person in the - in reality far-away - corner. The ball will shrink physically.
Incidentally, S should also be able to explain with his theory why the two people throwing the ball to each other seem to look not entirely straight at each other. If you had not noticed this yet, watch this animation [2] very carefully.
In the following chapter we will see what the "Ames Room" and the Ptolemaic world view with our earth in the centre have in common and how they both should warn us about scientific hypotheses that misrepresent reality, while seeming right because of their apparent success. The Ames Room will prove to be an apt metaphor to help us to rethink the many current interpretations of the quantum phenomena so that we can free ourselves from the quantum 'rectangular-box-room' view when we start a journey of discovery of a valid and meaningful interpretation of quantum physics.
2: The discovery of the solar system
"The shape of the heaven is of necessity spherical; for that is the shape most appropriate to its substance and also by nature primary."
Aristotle, Greek philosopher,
384 BC. - 322 BC.
As a child, you get to know the physical world as stable, solid and trustworthy. You don't notice that the earth is a sphere with a radius of almost 6,400 km (4000 mi) doing a complete rotation every day which means that you are spinning with a speed of about 1650 km/h (1025 mph) at the equator and at a somewhat lower speed of 1040 km/h (646 mph) at a latitude of 51 degrees in - say - Amsterdam. You also don't notice that the earth also revolves around the sun at a speed of about 30 km/s (18 mi/s). These speeds are completely contrary to what you experience standing on the ground,