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by pault 2071 days ago
> I suppose that means if a photon, say, is reflected by a mirror, that should collapse its waveform and any measurements after that should not have any effect on it?

I'm not sure if that example is the right one to use, but yes, that's roughly my understanding.

1 comments

Okay. I actually thought the paradox was that wave collapses only if the photon is influenced by measurement activity but I’s been a while since I was reading up on this topic so I may need a refresher.

I suppose if we can calculate exactly how a given force would influence a photon, that would be essentially the same as “measuring” it.

Turns out you need to run your quantum computer in near-zero-kelvin conditions to avoid accidental 'observations' from collapsing the precious waves you're using to factorize the number 6.