I Pioneered Scientific Magic - Chapter 538 (Patreon)

Chapter 538: Causal Reversal, Delayed Choice Double-Slit Experiment

In the capital, inside the Micro and Quantum Laboratory of the Magic Research Institute.

Numerous great wizards gathered here for a new round of double-slit interference experiments.

Although Lynn had conducted a similar experiment a few months ago at an academic seminar, where he demonstrated indisputably that quantum particles exhibit both wave and particle characteristics, the results were hard to accept. First and foremost was the so-called probability wave, which defied common sense, nearly overturning the very foundation of magic studies!

How could the world possibly be random?

Truth could not possibly be constantly rolling dice! As for the observer effect, it pushed quantum theory into a very strange realm, suggesting that human consciousness could have a decisive impact on quantum phenomena, or perhaps that microscopic particles are conscious and can detect their observation.

This theory baffled many great wizards studying micro theories, leading many to suspect that both the probability wave and the observer effect were concepts fabricated by the Star of Magic to explain phenomena.

Just like before the emergence of planetary theory, they firmly believed that the land beneath their feet was flat and that the sun, moon, and stars revolved around it.

In fact, this was merely taking the appearance for the truth, so quantum theory must be the same! To verify this hypothesis and stabilize the crumbling foundation of magical studies, these fifteen accomplished great wizards in the micro field decided to refine the double-slit interference experiment.

Among them were scholars from the particle faction and founders of the wave faction like Geoffrey.

Many had an unpleasant shouting match months ago, almost leading to a brawl, but now they had set aside their differences to jointly determine the truth of quantum theory. The methods for verification were diverse, filled with brainstorms and ingenious ideas, focusing on the dual nature of waves and particles.

The most troubling issue for the great wizards was tracking the paths of microscopic particles. Fortunately, as the Magic Network gradually opened up, this issue was somewhat resolved.

These great wizards each had three opportunities per week to harness the computational power of the Magic Network, ten minutes each time, totaling four hundred and fifty minutes for fifteen people!

They needed to be economical with their use, which is why they chose to gather together rather than research separately.

"Experiment number twenty-seven on double-slit interference is proceeding normally!"

Geoffrey quickly adjusted the steps of the experiment. The goal for this week was very clear—to verify whether observation could absolutely affect the transformation between wave and particle properties.

Geoffrey's idea was simple: since the electron behaves this way when passing through the double slits, why not wait for the electron to pass through first, and then see what happens in the latter half?

Since they had not observed the first half, the electron should not know it was being watched, and might just display its wave-like nature, allowing them to catch it!

Geoffrey explained his plan while setting up the electron accelerator. Months of thought and experimentation had consumed much of his energy. He had conducted several similar experiments before, but due to the difficulty of observation, he hadn't achieved good results.

Today, however, there would undoubtedly be an answer—Geoffrey was extremely confident, having waited too long. Last time in the City of Fire Oil, having witnessed two colleagues swallowed by a terrifying energy wave, the fear of quantum phenomena loomed over him like a nightmare.

Geoffrey knew well that if he didn't resolve this issue, he would never dare to enter the array to advance to legendary status!

"Gentlemen, let's begin!" Geoffrey took a deep breath, adjusted his mindset, and then activated the Magic Network.

An invisible magical field enveloped the entire area, with Alade and others also connecting to the Magic Network, using the shared perception feature.

The electron accelerator was quickly activated, and one electron after another was accelerated, flying at high speed towards the middle partition.

Geoffrey was completely focused, his mind taut to the extreme, and the rest of the great wizards dared not be distracted at all.

Because the accelerated electrons flew very fast, even with the reaction speed of the great wizards, it was hard to detect.

"Particles, they are particles!"

Almost the moment the accelerator was activated, a great wizard shouted loudly, and a light spot had already appeared behind the partition.

Then another electron was fired, and this time everyone perceived it—the disturbance in the electromagnetic field was extremely noticeable!

"This shouldn't be right!" Geoffrey's brow furrowed immediately. After waiting for more than a minute and firing hundreds of electrons, these electrons all obediently passed through a single slit as particles.

This was completely different from what he had imagined.

"Could it be too close? How about we try moving it further away?" Sanchez pondered aloud.

To better capture how a single particle could exist as a probability wave in multiple locations at once, interfering with itself and forming several striped interference light spots, they had almost placed the magic detection field right up against the partition.

Geoffrey hesitated, then

 accepted this guess, moving the perception field back five centimeters, but the result was the same. He then gritted his teeth and moved it back another ten centimeters, leaving less than a centimeter of distance from the perception screen.

In this state, they could only slightly capture the trajectory of the electrons passing by, unable to determine which slit they had passed through, nor see how the electrons passed through both slits.

Yet even having achieved this level of detail, the fluorescent screen still only displayed two clear light spots, indicating the electrons had honestly passed through one slit as particles.

"Why... Why does it know we set up a perception magic behind the slit?" Geoffrey murmured to himself, completely baffled.

"Perhaps the range of the field is too large, and the electron sensed the magic's fluctuation, so it explored!" Sanchez speculated again. "It might also be possible that the particle was in the form of a probability wave before passing through the slit, but once it entered the field range, it collapsed back into a particle state!"

"How could that be?" Geoffrey frowned. "If it was still a probability wave when it passed through the slit, then interference would have already occurred, and there would definitely be light spots deviating from the area on the fluorescent screen..."

The other great wizards nodded, so there was only one possibility—the electron had already made a choice at the moment of passing through the slit!

Geoffrey was absolutely certain yet reluctant to believe this guess, so he moved the perception field back another centimeter.

Just as the magic field had just left the surface of the perception screen, several noticeable bright spots appeared outside the two light spot landing points, meaning the path of the electron's movement was interfered with again.

This discovery profoundly shocked Geoffrey and the others, feeling a chill rising from their backs—the electron had actually realized in that instant that its path would not be detected, and thus transformed from a definite particle back into a probability wave...

"Why... Why does it know whether we have set up perception magic behind the slit?" Geoffrey murmured to himself, his face extremely troubled.

"Is it possible it saw the perception field in front of the slit through the slit?"

For them, the magic field detecting electromagnetic waves might be invisible, but for the electron, it might appear as a huge solid wall, so the moment it was fired by the hot field electron gun, it saw the perception field in front and then changed.

This speculation was undoubtedly far-fetched, not only implying that electrons have consciousness and can detect their perception, but also that they have some degree of vision.

"Impossible, this point has already been tested by Chairman Lynn. If a magic field is simply constructed without choosing to observe, the electron will still pass through both slits as a probability wave, showing interference stripes on the back, so it's definitely not a problem with the perception field," a particle faction great wizard opposed.

"So you're saying, the electron knew in advance that we would observe? So it transformed into a particle state ahead of time, is that what you mean?" Sanchez shouted irritably, a judgment even more outrageous than the electron having perceptive abilities!

This not only severely violated common sense, but even violated causality!

Either the electron could see the future, or it could change the past!

"I've always said, your method doesn't work, Geoffrey!" Alade mocked, looking at Geoffrey, he was curious to see what else could be tried.

"My method is actually very simple..." Alade cleared his throat, under everyone's gaze he brought out a box over half a meter tall!

"What is this?" Sanchez immediately thought of something.

"Do you all remember Professor Lynn's quantum cat?" Alade smiled proudly.

"You mean that cat concept between life and death?" Geoffrey's face twitched a bit, he certainly wouldn't forget that bizarre thought experiment.

Although Lynn had only proposed the concept and hadn't actually implemented it, it still left a lasting impression.

"That's right, this is a device I modified based on the cage Chairman Lynn used to imprison the quantum cat. I specifically requested Chairman Victorio to embed a magic that can monitor the trajectory of electrons passing through inside the device, and its switch is completely random!"

Geoffrey's eyes lit up, and the dissatisfaction on his face immediately diminished.

Now, not even they knew when the device recording the electron's path would turn on or off.

Sanchez even proposed that they make the path long enough and twisted enough to further affect the electron's judgment.

Alade gladly accepted this suggestion, confidently starting a new round of experiments, determined to unravel the secrets of the micro particle's movement paths!

Half an hour later, the experiment was undoubtedly a complete success!

Nine out of the fifteen great wizards present went mad!

Such a major experimental accident naturally alarmed the council immediately.

However, alongside this delayed choice double-slit interference experiment, Lynn had just published his theory of relativity.

It contained four formulas—relative velocity formula, relative length formula, relative mass formula, relative time formula.

And two

 core theories.

The first was the principle of relativity, stating that all inertial reference frames are equal, meaning that the forms of physical laws are the same in any inertial reference frame.

This theory was a bit mind-bending, but not incomprehensible. Lynn had mentioned during his discussion on planetary theory that all motion is relative, merely differing in reference frames.

This time, it was just an extension, stating that no inertial reference frame is superior to any other.

The second was the constant speed of light law—light always travels at a constant speed of 299,792 kilometers per second in vacuum in any reference frame!

"Absurd! How could the speed of light possibly be constant!" a council member studying optics couldn't help but slam the paper on the table.

He had thought that the quantum probability wave proposed by the Star of Magic was outrageous enough, but now the other party had proposed an even more preposterous constant speed of light theory.

A simple thought experiment would reveal that if two people released laser beams back-to-back, using one of the beams as a reference frame, the speed of the other beam would necessarily be doubling away!

This also fit with Lynn's own theory of reference frames.

But according to the constant speed of light law, from any perspective, the speed of light is always at 299,792 kilometers per second, with no change whatsoever!

And those relative formulas also treated the length and mass of objects as variable values, such as a stick that is three centimeters long and weighs one kilogram when at rest, but if it starts moving, both its length and mass will change.

The length will shorten as the relative speed increases, and the mass will increase as the speed increases, even time will slow down as the speed increases, all these changes will reach their maximum threshold at the speed of light!

"According to this theory, there is nothing definite in the world, mass and length will change, then what is the eternal unchanging truth? What is the point of developing magic studies?" the council member roared.

In the laboratory, the other great wizards affected by the theory of relativity manuscripts also found it hard to accept this strange theory, and began speaking out.

"Where is Chairman Lynn now? Is he still in the capital?" "I demand an academic conference be held now!" "It's hard to imagine that such a thing could have been written by the Star of Magic, this quantum relativity is completely a product of contradictions..."

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