Double slit experiment and "space"

Question

I'm no Physicist, so please excuse my ignorance. I'm sure there will be plenty of scenarios in which what I am about to say comes crashing down, but that's why I'm asking the question really.

In BBC4's recent documentary about Quantum Physics by Jim Al Khalili, the double slit experiment was shown. It was explained how the electron behaves both like a wave and a particle. As I was watching I could only think of one hypothesis for this:

The appearance of the single electron at the electron gun disturbs "space" (whatever that is!), a bit like a drop in a pool of water. This causes "space" to ripple, and it is the "rippled space" "along which" the electron particle travels.

Somehow I naively think this can explain the behaviour seen on the screen, so my question is has this hypothesis been tested and rejected before? Or maybe it's flawed from the outset. Has it ever been entertained before if only briefly and by whom?

Answer 1

The correct answer is that the electron doesn't behave like either a particle or a wave. The quantum field that gives rise to electrons can change its quantum state in a way that is observed in the double slit experiment. It can also change in many other ways in addition to that.

Modern physics does not talk about particles as independent quantities. Neither does it talk about waves. We have a new and better concept that covers all of these phenomena and much more with very high precision. It's kind of time to let the naive idea of particles and waves fade away into the mythology of days past. Neither simplification of reality has any use in cases where a full quantum mechanical description is necessary.

Answer 2

Waves in every day life have a medium that moves. For sound waves, air moves. For water waves, water moves. Note that the air and water move back and forth locally while the sound or water wave move a long distance.

For light and electrons, however, the current thinking is, there isn't any medium that is moving like air or water. There's just the waves.

I'm not sure what it would mean for space to be rippling, but it seems like it would change distances, particles wouldn't go in straight lines, and lots of other stuff we haven't observed at quantum scales.

Answer 3

Your hypothesis would need filling out quite a bit before it could be tested. It would have to be clear how it differs in its results from existing interpretations.

But your idea seems quite similar in thought to Pilot Wave Theory, known later as De Broglie–Bohm theory or Bohmian mechanics.

I can't pretend to understand it well, but de Broglie's original idea was that particles were guided down some pilot wave which is the wave function.

If you think this explanation will save you the complexity and sheer weirdness of competing theories such as Copenhagen and Many Worlds, I suspect you will be disappointed as the phenomena that must be explained remain fundamentally counterintuitive and non-classical. Hence, the theory hasn't become the dominant interpretation. But you can check the linked Wikipedia pages for more details.

Answer 4

Physicists training as well as science must work with certainties. On the other hand, Young's theory quite old. In the meantime, we know that fields are quantized. Maybe the fringes behind an edge or a slit are images of the electromagnetic field between the photon (or electron) and the edges.

I expand my answer citating @DanielSank :"Metals have relatively mobile electrons. Therefore, when an electromagnetic wave comes in, the electrons can move around easily under the influence of that wave's electric field. That means that an incoming wave causes the electrons to oscillate at the same frequency as the wave itself." it is the answer to this question that isn't related to the double slit phenomena, but it hits the point perfect. We have to pay attention to the interactions between surface and EM radiation.