At 07:35 PM 2/19/96 -0800, Timothy C. May wrote:

By analogy, it is not clear to me that a simple regeneration mechanism, with no local observer or recording apparatus, will collapse the wave function. Seems to me an experiment may have already been done along these lines: separate fibers producing an interference pattern and then these inline amps added...if the interference pattern remains, as I would expect, then the amps/regenerators did not constitute a "measurement" in QM terms.

An amplification mechanism will usually couple the signal to the vacuum, and introduce vacuum noise. Another way of thinking of vacuum noise is that amplification mixes the state of the signal, with the (unknown) phase of the universe at infinity. Of course any statement in words about quantum mechanics is necessarily false, so the above statement is a metaphor or parable, rather than literal truth. --------------------------------------------------------------------- | We have the right to defend ourselves | http://www.jim.com/jamesd/ and our property, because of the kind | of animals that we are. True law | James A. Donald derives from this right, not from the | arbitrary power of the state. | jamesd@echeque.com