The multi-stage Stern–Gerlach experiment conducted by Frisch and Segrè includes two cascaded quantum measurements with a nonadiabatic flipper in between. The Frisch and Segrè experiment has been modeled analytically by Majorana without the nuclear effect and subsequently revised by Rabi with the hyperfine interaction. However, the theoretical predictions do not match the experimental observation accurately. Here, we numerically solve the standard quantum mechanical model, via the von Neumann equation, including the hyperfine interaction for the time evolution of the spin. Thus far, the coefficients of determination from the standard quantum mechanical model without using free parameters are still low, indicating a mismatch between the theory and the experiment. Non-standard variants that improve the match are explored for discussion.
Quantum mechanical modeling of the multi-stage Stern–Gerlach experiment conducted by Frisch and Segrè
Abstract
Copyright and License
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd on behalf of the Institute of Physics and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
Acknowledgement
We thank Xukun Lin for scrutinizing the source codes, Alexander Bengtsson for the inspiring discussions, and the anonymous reviewers for the stimulating questions. This project has been made possible in part by Grant Number 2020-225832 from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative DAF, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.
Data Availability
All data that support the findings of this study are included within the article (and any supplementary files).
Code Availability
Our source codes are available online [57].
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Additional details
- Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
- 2020-225832
- Caltech groups
- Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience