O Gato de Cheshire quântico como um fenômeno de interferência

Abstract

Based on the concept of weak measurements, in 2013 Aharonov et al. proposed an experiment in which, according to their interpretation of the predicted results, a photon and its circular polarization were spatially separated, naming this phenomenon quantum Cheshire Cat [1]. This name is after a character in Lewis Carrolls novel Alice In Wonderland, the Cheshire Cat a cat whose grin can exist without the animal itself. Denkmayr et al., in 2014, claimed they realized experimentally the quantum Cheshire Cat, separating a neutron from its intrinsic magnetic moment [3]. We show how both results follow from interference effects, and thus the conclusion that a particle is separated from one of its intrinsic properties is not a necessary one. Making use of mostly undergraduate level quantum mechanics, we rule out the apparent paradox of the quantum Cheshire Cat.