Abstract
Recent experimental measurements of the time interval between detection of the two photons emitted in positron-electron annihilation have indicated that collapse of the spatial part of the photon’s wave function, due to detection of the other photon, does not occur. Although quantum nonlocality actually occurs in photons produced through parametric down-conversion, the recent experiments give strong evidence against measurement-induced instantaneous spatial localization of high-energy photons. A quantum-mechanical analysis of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen problem is presented, which may help to explain the observed differences between photons produced through parametric down-conversion and photons produced through positron-electron annihilation. The results are found to concur with the recent experiments involving photons.
- Received 5 June 2002
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.67.034102
©2003 American Physical Society