Chapter 593: Chapter 411: Observer Effect, Quantum Phantom?
Elemental Ghost… a term that strikes fear into the hearts of all those from Wizard Land.
No one could forget the research accident more than a decade ago, which was almost synonymous with doom for the Elemental Wizards.
It was said that at the time, Altoc, the master of elements, and his faction of wizards were delving into even more microscopic realms.
Even today, Harrov finally realized what his friend had seen before going mad—they must have also touched upon the Quantum Domain, and might even have conducted an experiment similar to the double-slit interference experiment before!
[It’s actually avoiding me; it knows I’m observing it… They are ghosts, elementals ghosts!]
Harrov couldn’t help recalling the manuscript left by Altoc, the content of which was chilling.
The rest of the wizards in the great hall were also plunged into terror and panic.
Electrons are omnipresent and are one of the most critical microscopic particles that constitute elements!
If this thing has consciousness, that would be a terrifying existence…
Seeing everyone discussing quantum ghosts, the situation in the hall risked spiraling out of control, and Lynn had to raise his voice a bit to interrupt the crowd’s discourse. “I do not endorse the speculation that microscopic elements possess consciousness… at least there’s no solid evidence to prove it right now!”
“But… the results of the experiment just now were clearer than clear, our observation caused the electron’s trajectory to change…” a senior wizard said maniacally.
“Isn’t that exactly your judgment, Chairperson Lynn?” Sanchez added with amazement.
The wizards in the exhibit hall were all talking at once, some even suggesting ‘electrons were afraid of them, so they hid their true form’.
Speechless, Lynn had to raise his voice a bit and forcefully said, “It’s just probability collapse, like the Gold Coin just now, before it is revealed, its state is also unknown to you, but can you say it has intelligence?”
“It’s totally different!” The senior wizard excitedly slapped the table. “That Gold Coin, whether we look at it or not, it remains there, and its state will never change.”
This is where the difference lies; for microscopic particles, observation can only confirm their current position and trajectory; once observation stops, the state reverts back to a chaotic probability cloud.
“At least, without looking at it, we can never confirm its state at this moment!” Lynn shrugged his shoulders, then continued. “Moreover, regarding the collapse of the probability cloud, I already have some preliminary ideas.”
Harrov and others immediately turned their gaze toward him, and the exhibit hall quickly quieted down.
Lynn cleared his throat and went straight to the point without any intention of keeping them in suspense.
“I believe observation itself has power! To see an object, we need light, to hear a sound, we have to perceive vibrations. That is to say, we cannot obtain information about something without affecting it in some way, and this influence may be what causes the change in the electron’s state.”
“So what you’re saying is, it’s not necessarily observation that causes the electron to transition from a superposition state to a particle state, but other accompanying factors?” Harrov spoke thoughtfully. “Like the fact we use Magic Power for observation, so it has an effect.”
It’s like fish swimming in the water being tightly bound by a solid net, unable to freely stretch out and swim in the lake, only able to struggle powerlessly in the mesh.
This explanation was somewhat more acceptable.
“No, that’s not quite right!” Vittorio shook his head to one side. What they, the four of them, and the grand wizards in the exhibit hall, had done was not just simple observation but also some experiments; the unfolding of their domain itself did not affect the outcome of the experiment.
The interference pattern of light spots displayed on the electron screen was proof.
The real change occurred when they began the observation, and it was not specific to any one individual; anyone’s observation would suffice, and there seemed to be no requirement for strength.
Whether they were apprentices, full-fledged wizards, grand wizards, or legendary wizards, all could do it, and Vittorio even suspected that even an ordinary person could cause the electron to transition from a wave-particle superposition to a stable particle state.
“The power of observation itself?” Aurora’s brain was a bit muddled; the strangeness of the Quantum Domain made it somewhat painful for her to understand, and she could only guess that it might be the power of Spiritual Energy affecting it all.
Lynn was also pondering this issue.
In his previous life, the Federation had already delved deeply into the research of the Quantum Domain and had made numerous scientific achievements, but how to interpret the observer effect in a more scientific manner, remained an infuriating problem.
To crack it, the Federation’s researchers wracked their brains, attempting to recreate this phenomenon without observation.
If it were a magnetic field, they would use a strong magnetic field to interfere; if it were gravity, they would create a Gravity Field; if other microscopic elements, then they would create a particle stream in an attempt to intercept the electrons.
The result was that these things indeed could affect the electron’s trajectory, but only when they finely adjusted various parameters could they barely replicate it.
Humans, on the other hand, only need to glance at the observation results, and even if not using their eyes, directly inputting the results into their brains, could affect the electron’s trajectory.