The first droplet in a cloud chamber track
Jonathan F. Schonfeld

TL;DR
This paper proposes a mechanism explaining the formation of the first droplet in a cloud chamber track without relying on quantum measurement axioms, linking ionization processes to emergent measurement-like behavior.
Contribution
It introduces a wavepacket-based explanation for the first droplet formation, connecting ionization degeneracy to an emergent Born rule in position space.
Findings
First droplet occurs when vapor is pushed past criticality by ionization.
Degeneracy in Coulombic scattering leads to high ionization cross sections.
Emergent Born rule arises without quantum measurement postulates.
Abstract
In a cloud chamber, the quantum measurement problem amounts to explaining the first droplet in a charged-particle track; subsequent droplets are explained by Mott's 1929 wave-theoretic argument about collision-induced wavefunction collimation. I formulate a mechanism for how the first droplet in a cloud chamber track arises, making no reference to quantum measurement axioms. I look specifically at tracks of charged particles emitted in the simplest slow decays, because I can reason about rather than guess the form that wave packets take. The first visible droplet occurs when a randomly occurring, barely-subcritical vapor droplet is pushed past criticality by ionization triggered by the faint wavefunction of the emitted charged particle. This is possible because potential energy incurred when an ionized vapor molecule polarizes the other molecules in a droplet can balance the excitation…
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Taxonomy
TopicsQuantum Mechanics and Applications · Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates · Quantum Information and Cryptography
