Time-Symmetric Resolutions of the Renninger Negative-Result Paradoxes

TL;DR

This paper resolves the Renninger negative-result paradoxes in quantum mechanics using a time-symmetric formulation and proposes an experiment to distinguish it from the Copenhagen interpretation.

Contribution

It introduces a time-symmetric approach to resolve longstanding quantum paradoxes and suggests an experimental test to differentiate interpretations.

Findings

Paradoxical inferences are resolved with time-symmetric quantum mechanics

Proposes an experiment to test the differences between interpretations

Clarifies the role of wavefunction collapse in quantum theory

Abstract

The 1953 and 1960 Renninger negative-result thought experiments illustrate conceptual paradoxes in the Copenhagen formulation of quantum mechanics. In the 1953 paradox we can infer the presence of a detector in one arm of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer without any particle interacting with the detector. In the 1960 paradox we can infer the collapse of a wavefunction without any change in the state of a detector. I resolve both of these paradoxes by using a time-symmetric formulation of quantum mechanics. I also describe a real experiment that can distinguish between the Copenhagen and time-symmetric formulations.