Practical Implementation of a Test of Event-Based Corpuscular Model as an Alternative to Quantum Mechanics

Protective measurements: extracting the expectation value by measuring a single particle

“…As in a standard Stern-Gerlach experiment, in the projective case ( Fig.s 3.a,c) we have two regions of photondetection corresponding to the possible eigenvalues of A. The experimental expectation value A (calculated with (4)) from these distributions (dark counts subtracted) is A 17π/60 = −0.21 (4), in agreement with the theoretical value A th 17π/60 = −0.208. In the protective case, we find a single photon counts distribution centered in the position corresponding to the expectation value A 17π/60 = −0.19 (2), in ageement both with the teoretical value and the projective one.…”

“…Despite its success in predicting experimental results, there is no consensus about the foundations of quantum mechanics. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] In this framework, measurement plays an undisputed and fundamental role, 9 since it's the process in which some of the distinctive traits of the quantum world with respect to the classical one appear, e.g. the collapse of quantum states due to a strong (projective) measurement.…”