The Paradoxes of the Interaction-free Measurements L. Vaidman Centre for Quantum Computation, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, Oxford 0X1 3PU, England; School of Physics and Astronomy, Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv 69978, Israel Reprint requests to Prof. L. V.; E-mail:
[email protected] Z. Naturforsch. 56 a, 100-107 (2001); received January 12, 2001 Presented at the 3rd Workshop on Mysteries, Puzzles and Paradoxes in Quantum Mechanics, Gargnano, Italy, September 17-23, 2000. Interaction-free measurements introduced by Elitzur and Vaidman [Found. Phys. 23,987 (1993)] allow finding infinitely fragile objects without destroying them. Paradoxical features of these and related measurements are discussed. The resolution of the paradoxes in the framework of the Many-Worlds Interpretation is proposed. Key words: Interaction-free Measurements; Quantum Paradoxes. I. Introduction experiment” proposed by Wheeler [22] which helps to define the context in which the above claims, that The interaction-free measurements proposed by the measurements are interaction-free, are legitimate. Elitzur and Vaidman [1,2] (EVIFM) led to numerousSection V is devoted to the variation of the EV IFM investigations and several experiments have been per proposed by Penrose [23] which, instead of testing for formed [3- 17]. Interaction-free measurements are the presence of an object in a particular place, tests very paradoxical. Usually it is claimed that quantum a certain property of the object in an interaction-free measurements, in contrast to classical measurements, way. Section VI introduces the EV IFM procedure for invariably cause a disturbance of the system.