I Pioneered Scientific Magic - Chapter 511 (Patreon)

Chapter 511: Observer Effect, Quantum Ghosts?

Elemental Ghosts... a term that instills fear in all those from the Land of Wizards.

No one could forget the research accident over a decade ago, which was nearly a catastrophe for elemental wizards.

It is said that back then, Althok, a master of elements, and his school of wizards were studying even more microscopic domains.

To this day, Harof finally realized what his friend had seen before descending into madness—they must have also touched upon the quantum realm, possibly even conducting experiments like the double-slit interference beforehand!

"It's actually avoiding me, it knows I'm observing it... They are ghosts, ghosts of the elements!"

Harof couldn't help but recall the manuscript Althok had left behind, which sent chills down his spine.

The other wizards in the great hall were plunged into a state of shock and panic.

Electrons are everywhere, and they are the most critical microscopic particles that make up elements!

If these things have consciousness, that would be a terrifying existence...

As everyone began discussing quantum ghosts, the situation in the hall seemed to spiral out of control. Lynn raised his voice to interrupt, "I do not accept the speculation that micro elements have consciousness... At least there is no solid evidence to prove this yet!"

"But... the results of the experiment just now were clearer than ever, our observation changed the trajectory of the electrons..." an old wizard said crazily.

"Isn't that exactly what you, Speaker Lynn, have deduced?" Sanchez added with surprise.

The hall of wizards became noisy, with some even suggesting that 'the electrons were hiding their true form out of fear of them.'

Lynn was speechless and raised his voice to emphasize, "It's just probability collapse, like that coin earlier, to you, before it's revealed, its state is also unknown, but can you say it has intelligence?"

"This is completely different!" the old wizard exclaimed, pounding on the table. "That coin, whether we look at it or not, stays there, and its state never changes."

That's the difference with microscopic particles; observation can only confirm their current position and trajectory, once observation stops, the state returns to a chaotic probability cloud.

"At least, without looking, we can never confirm its current state!" Lynn shrugged and spoke again. "And about the collapse of the probability cloud, I already have some preliminary ideas."

Harof and the others immediately turned their gaze towards him, and the hall quieted down.

Lynn cleared his throat, not meaning to keep anyone in suspense, and spoke outright.

"I believe that observation itself has power! To see an object, we need light; to hear a sound, we must sense vibrations. That means we can't obtain information about something without affecting it, and this influence may be what causes the state of electrons to change."

"So you mean, it's not necessarily observation that causes electrons to transition from a superposition state to a particle state, but other accompanying factors?" Harof pondered aloud. "Like using magic for observation, thus affecting it."

It was as if the fish in the water were tightly bound by a sturdy fishing net, unable to freely stretch their bodies and swim in the lake, only struggling powerlessly within the mesh.

This explanation was somewhat more acceptable.

"No, that's not quite right!" Victorio shook his head; their observations were not just simple, they had also conducted some experiments, and the unfolding of domains did not affect the results.

The interference pattern of light spots on the electron screen was proof.

The real change occurred the moment they started observing, and it was not specific to any one person; anyone's observation could do it, regardless of their power level.

Whether an apprentice, a formal wizard, a great wizard, or even a legendary wizard, Victorio even suspected that even an ordinary person could cause electrons to transition from a wave-particle superposition to a stable particle state.

"The power of observation itself?" Aurora was a bit confused, the weirdness of the quantum field was a headache to understand, and she could only guess that it might be the influence of psychic powers affecting all this.

Lynn was also pondering this issue.

In his previous life, the Federation had conducted deep research into the quantum field and made many scientific breakthroughs, but how to explain the observer effect more scientifically was still a vexing issue.

To crack it, the Federation's researchers racked their brains, attempting to replicate this phenomenon without observing it.

If it was a magnetic field, they would use a strong magnetic field to interfere; if it was gravity, they would create a gravitational field; if it were other microscopic elements, they would create a particle stream to intercept electrons.

The result was that these things indeed could affect the trajectory of electrons, but only when they meticulously adjusted various data could they barely replicate it.

Yet, a person only needed to glance at the observation results, even if not using their eyes, directly inputting the results into their brain, could also affect the trajectory of electrons

.

The Federation's researchers were puzzled and many refused to believe that it was truly observation causing all this.

After all, humans are merely carbon-based organisms, capable of being mass-produced with cloning technology, and not particularly special.

It's hard to imagine such beings having a decisive impact on the mysterious microscopic realm.

But now the situation seemed somewhat different. The soul truly exists, and it can be materialized with magic, even used as a high-level energy; this has been undoubtedly confirmed.

Lynn quickly broke free from these complex thoughts, looking at a chairman still frowning in contemplation and the terrified wizards, and spoke again.

"Electrons exist in all elements, if they had intelligence, they would not let us manipulate them so easily, rather, it seems more like a rule, a new rule, different from the macroscopic world's laws!"

Lynn's words somewhat alleviated the wizards' fear of elemental ghosts, as he said, if electrons had intelligence, their spellcasting wouldn't be so smooth.

"In any case, we need more experiments!" Harof declared resolutely. "Only more rigorous experiments can answer all these questions!"

Whether it's Lynn's proposed wave-particle duality or the theory of probability, further experiments are needed to prove them.

Aurora also suggested some experimental ideas, as the emission and motion trajectory of electrons were not regular, so when they were observing earlier, they couldn't 'see' the electrons at a fixed time and place.

Could they find a way to suddenly observe at the exact moment the electron passes through the slit, thereby observing how the electron transmits in the form of probability waves?

They could also increase the number of slits to three or four to see if the experimental results would change.

Victorio even boldly suggested creating a device that could detect the trajectory of electron movements, record the process of the double-slit experiment without any human observation, and then check it afterward.

Listening to their discussion, Lynn couldn't help but twitch his mouth.

Goodness, this is about conducting even more terrifying delayed choice quantum eraser experiments...

Lynn opened his mouth, intending to let them calm down a bit—at least until they understood what a probability cloud is and what wave-particle duality means before considering these more profound issues—but after thinking about it, he closed his mouth.

Because those capable of thinking up these experimental methods were definitely not just Harof and others; he couldn't stop every wizard from conducting experiments privately. If they conducted their research on their own, who knows what shocking theories they might come up with.

It's better to conduct research openly; at least he could help explain some of the bizarre micro phenomena, rather than letting people lead magic astray.

After a while of discussion, Harof and others did not choose to put their ideas into action immediately but decided to go back and study how to conduct the next experiments. The academic seminar was declared over for the day.

As they left the exhibition hall, Glenn and a few others still felt a bit dazed. Lynn's improved double-slit interference experiment completely shattered their previous understanding of the world.

In fact, Glenn was relatively okay; many wizards were muttering as they left the venue, "Ghosts... elemental ghosts really exist!" "This world is fake!" "Magic doesn't exist anymore, magic is gone!"

"Teacher, do you really think this world is determined by probability?" Flora asked in horror. "This is just... too strange!"

Anthony was also somewhat shaken; according to Lynn, all microscopic particles have similar properties, and light is no exception.

Could electromagnetic waves actually be particles? Or do they really possess some particle characteristics?

After a long moment, Anthony finally came to his senses, took a deep breath, and answered, "Just as Speaker Lynn said, the laws of the world do not have to conform to our understanding..."

"But exactly how, we still need to conduct experiments to prove it!"

Anthony did not deny the results of the experiment just conducted in the hall but also did not completely abandon his wave theory.

A single double-slit interference experiment was not enough to overturn the foundations of magic. Perhaps as they delved deeper into the microscopic realm, many more novel discoveries could prove that the world still conforms to cognition, just that some key factors had been previously overlooked.

Those thinking like Anthony were not in the minority. Sanchez, Alade, and other great wizards who supported the particle theory, after leaving the seminar venue, wanted to find evidence to refute the probability wave.

They could not believe that the world is determined by probability; everything must have a rule!

Meanwhile, back at the seminar venue, Lynn was instructing Jonny and others to pack up the various instruments on the experimental table; he could already imagine the stir that would be caused when tomorrow's [Magic Daily] published the results of the experiment.

The challenge that quantum theory poses to traditional magical concepts is revolutionary, bound to cause a significant impact, which is why he specifically made a disclaimer.

No matter what, this difficult barrier and mental obstacle must eventually

 be overcome, otherwise magic might have to stop here; they will never be able to defeat the gods high above!

"Speaker Lynn."

A call from behind interrupted Lynn's thoughts.

"Speaker Aurora, is there anything else you need me to clarify?" Lynn turned around, smiling as he asked.

"If you're asking about doubts, naturally there are many, but what I want to ask about concerns the Mystical Arts Society," Aurora said straightforwardly.

Lynn's expression remained unchanged, not surprised that she would bring this up.

After all, he and Harof and others had said that the main body of the [Mystical Arts Society] was within the empire.

Now that the magical kingdom's army had occupied over seventy percent of the empire's territory, even though he had made some preparations beforehand and recruited many talented wizards to join the [Mystical Arts Society], expanding the numbers, there was still a substantive issue that had not been resolved.

That was the whereabouts of the 'legendary wizards' who were the controllers of the [Mystical Arts Society].

Previously, he could still dodge the issue with the situation being unclear, but now that they had defeated Aila, it was somewhat unreasonable for these people not to appear.

In fact, Lynn had already thought of a solution, and it was beyond his expectations that Aurora and others had endured until now to ask.

"Since it's about the [Mystical Arts Society], why not directly call a legendary meeting and ask in person? Although I am also a member of the [Mystical Arts Society], I'm not as familiar with the society as teachers like Albert and Isaac," Lynn said with a smile.

Aurora paused for a moment, then remembered that she, indeed, had the authority to convene a legendary meeting with her [Ring of Mystical Arts], but had never used it before.

"Then let's set the time for the meeting at twelve o'clock tonight," Aurora nodded, saying naturally.

Asking in person was indeed more to her liking, aside from her confusion about the [Mystical Arts Society], perhaps they could also discuss various phenomena in the quantum field that defy common sense together.

After all, it was only a few months ago that Lynn was promoted to legendary status, and even if he were a genius in magic, he couldn't possibly understand the microscopic realm so profoundly in such a short time, so she guessed that some of Lynn's research materials on microscopic particles must have come from the [Mystical Arts Society]...

"By the way, invite Speaker Harof and Speaker Victorio as well," Lynn reminded, having dragged on for so long, now was the time to resolve it!

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