I was reading a book on physics' strangest experiments and stumbled upon a recent experiment that provides evidence(EVIDENCE, NOT PROOF, SO DONT GO CRAZY ON ME!) that parallel universes are actually out there. Some say they are right on us, ie occupying the same space as us, just on a defferent higher dimensional frequency. If that were the case, that could explain the results of this experiment very well.

Some scientists were doing a test with light interference, the adding and canceling of light waves, constructive/destructive interference. They first did the regular double slit experiment and got the usual results. They you inserted barriers to block off photons, so they were firing single photons through the slits. They thought that since they were firing single slits, that only two lines would apear, but the found that the interference happened anyways.


- = photon
<pre>
))))))))))))))))))) ll ll l l l l l l l l l l
^light waves ^2 slits ^interference

- - - - ll ll l l l l l l l l l l l
^individual photons ^slits ^interference</pre>
the scientists were puzzled when they saw the results. how could 2 photons passing the 2 slits create interference?

One of the scientists said that it must be photons in other universes interacting with the photons in our universe to create the interference.

I dont know about you but I think that is amazing.

Your thoughts?

Arcane the God

You may not know, but all waves (water waves, sound waves, light waves) always interfere when they pass through a single slit. So, in terms of "classical" physics, the interference of light going through a single slit is not surprising, in itself.

What is unexpected is when we look at things using a particle picture of light. In the particle picture, light is made up of small particles rather than classical waves. We would expect a single particle to follow a more-or-less straight trajectory through a slit. If we send particles through the slit one at a time, there seems to be no reason to expect an interference pattern, since to get one we'd have to have each particle interfering with itself! But in fact, when this experiment is done, that's exactly what we see.

This kind of thing is what led physicists to suggest a "mixed" model of light - sometimes light acts like particles and sometimes it acts like waves. The interference we see shows the wave properties of individual photons (which have both particle and wave properties).

But people still like to ask how a single photon can interfere with itself. ONE possible explanation is that the photon might be interacting with other "copies" of itself doing slightly different things in "other universes". This is a nice idea from a certain point of view, but it is really impossible to test to see if it is true or not. There are other explanations, too.

The modern picture which describes how light behaves, including the photon model, is called "quantum mechanics", which is one of the most accurate and successful theories in the whole of science.

The double slit experiment has been done with electrons too, with the same result. I think that's what inspired (or maybe confirmed) quantum mechanics' broader view of wave particle duality (all particles have a wave nature, p = h/λ - De Broglie's formula). I don't really understand it (if anyone does I'd like to know how) but it's awesome stuff, to be sure.

Electrons and bigger stuff, too.

http://www.lifesci.sussex.ac.uk/home/John_Gribbin/quantum.htm

A very good book concerning the concept(s) of parallel universes is:

The Fabric Of Reality
by David Deutsch
published by Allen Lane The Penguin Press

The author is a highly regarded professional scientist and the book should be considered credible.

This book has a lengthy discussion of the famous multiple slit experiment and also a lengthy discussion of parallel universe theory and its possible applications including quantum computing.

Don't feel bad about it if it is mysterious: Richard Feynman, one of the most highly regarded Quantum Physicists, said, slightly paraphrased: "Don't worry about it if you don't understand it, nobody does.".