Classical, Quantum and Event-by-Event Simulation of a Stern-Gerlach Experiment with Neutrons.

Stern–Gerlach experiment classical mechanics event-by-event simulation quantum mechanics

Journal

Entropy (Basel, Switzerland)
ISSN: 1099-4300
Titre abrégé: Entropy (Basel)
Pays: Switzerland
ID NLM: 101243874

Informations de publication

Date de publication:
17 Aug 2022
Historique:
received: 06 07 2022
revised: 11 08 2022
accepted: 14 08 2022
entrez: 26 8 2022
pubmed: 27 8 2022
medline: 27 8 2022
Statut: epublish

Résumé

We present a comprehensive simulation study of the Newtonian and quantum model of a Stern-Gerlach experiment with cold neutrons. By solving Newton's equation of motion and the time-dependent Pauli equation for a wide range of uniform magnetic field strengths, we scrutinize the role of the latter for drawing the conclusion that the magnetic moment of the neutron is quantized. We then demonstrate that a marginal modification of the Newtonian model suffices to construct, without invoking any concept of quantum theory, an event-based subquantum model that eliminates the shortcomings of the classical model and yields results that are in qualitative agreement with experiment and quantum theory. In this event-by-event model, the intrinsic angular momentum can take any value on the sphere, yet, for a sufficiently strong uniform magnetic field, the particle beam splits in two, exactly as in experiment and in concert with quantum theory.

Identifiants

pubmed: 36010807
pii: e24081143
doi: 10.3390/e24081143
pmc: PMC9407270
pii:
doi:

Types de publication

Journal Article

Langues

eng

Références

Phys Rev Lett. 1990 Jul 23;65(4):488-491
pubmed: 10042933
Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2003 May;67(5 Pt 2):056706
pubmed: 12786321
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1959 Oct;45(10):1542-53
pubmed: 16590541

Auteurs

Hans De Raedt (H)

Institute for Advanced Simulation, Jülich Supercomputing Centre, Forschungszentrum Jülich, D-52425 Jülich, Germany.
Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands.

Fengping Jin (F)

Institute for Advanced Simulation, Jülich Supercomputing Centre, Forschungszentrum Jülich, D-52425 Jülich, Germany.

Kristel Michielsen (K)

Institute for Advanced Simulation, Jülich Supercomputing Centre, Forschungszentrum Jülich, D-52425 Jülich, Germany.
Department of Physics, RWTH Aachen University, D-52074 Aachen, Germany.

Classifications MeSH