Everything about Complementarity Physics totally explained
In
physics,
complementarity is a basic principle of
quantum theory closely identified with the
Copenhagen interpretation, and refers to effects such as the
wave-particle duality, in which different measurements made on a system reveal it to have either particle-like or wave-like properties.
Niels Bohr is usually associated with this concept, which he developed at
Copenhagen with
Heisenberg, as a philosophical adjunct to the recently developed mathematics of
quantum mechanics and in particular the
Heisenberg uncertainty principle; in the narrow
orthodox form, it's stated that a single quantum mechanical entity can either behave as a particle or as wave, but never simultaneously as both; that a stronger manifestation of the particle nature leads to a weaker manifestation of the wave nature and vice versa.
Nature
A profound aspect of Complementarity is that it not only applies to measurability or knowability of some property of a physical entity, but more importantly it applies to the limitations of that physical entity’s very manifestation of the property in the physical world. All properties of physical entities exist only in pairs, which Bohr described as complementary or conjugate pairs (-which are also
Fourier transform pairs). Physical reality is determined and defined by manifestations of properties which are limited by trade-offs between these complementary pairs. For example, an electron can manifest a greater and greater accuracy of its position only in even trade for a complementary loss in accuracy of manifesting its momentum. This means that there's a limitation on the precision with which an electron can possess (for example, manifest) position, since an infinitely precise position would dictate that its manifested momentum would be infinitely imprecise, or undefined (for example, non-manifest or not possessed), which isn't possible. The ultimate limitations in precision of property manifestations are quantified by the Heisenberg
uncertainty principle and
Planck units. Complementarity and Uncertainty dictate that all properties and actions in the physical world are therefore non-deterministic to some degree.
Complementarity or
wave-particle duality is considered to be one of the distinguishing characteristics of quantum mechanics, whose theoretical and experimental development has been honoured by more than a few
Nobel Prizes for Physics. It has been discussed by prominent physicists for the last 100 years, from the time of
Albert Einstein,
Niels Bohr and
Werner Heisenberg, onwards.
The emergence of complementarity in a system occurs when one considers the circumstances under which one attempts to measure its properties; as Bohr noted, the principle of complementarity "implies the impossibility of any sharp separation between the behaviour of atomic objects and the interaction with the measuring instruments which serve to define the conditions under which the phenomena appear." It is important to distinguish, as did Bohr in his original statements, the principle of complementarity from a statement of the
uncertainty principle. For a technical discussion of contemporary issues surrounding complementarity in physics, see, for example,
(External Link
) (from which parts of this discussion were drawn.)
Experiments
Various
neutron interferometry experiments demonstrate the subtleness of the notions of duality and complementarity in an interesting way. By passing through the
interferometer, the
neutron appears to act as a wave. Yet upon passage, the neutron is subject to
gravitation, which supposedly only affect particles, and not waves. As the neutron interferometer is rotated through Earth's
gravitational field a phase change between the two arms of the interferometer can be observed, accompanied by a change in the constructive and destructive interference of the neutron waves on exit from the interferometer. Some interpretations claim that understanding the interference effect requires one to concede that a single neutron takes both paths through the interferometer at the same time; a single neutron would "be in two places at once", as it were. Since the two paths through a neutron interferometer can be as far as five to 15
cm apart, the effect is hardly microscopic. This is similar to traditional double-slit and mirror interferometer experiments where the slits (or mirrors) can be arbitrarily far apart. So, in interference and diffraction experiments, neutrons behave the same way as a photon (or an electron) of corresponding wavelength.
Further Information
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