The Musical Mach–Zehnder Interferometer
Keywords:
quantum physics, interference, Mach–Zehnder interferometer, new musical instrumentAbstract
The phenomenon of interference lies at the heart of quantum physics, and is responsible for many of the unusual aspects of quantum behaviour that deviate from our everyday expectations. Tough classical physics allows for waves (e.g. of sound) to interfere, quantum theory allows for interference efects also to afect single particles. One device that demonstrates this experimentally is the Mach–Zehnder interferometer: here a single particle (e.g. a photon) travels down one of two possible paths, and quantum interference between the two paths affects the final position where the particle arrives. In this article, I propose a mechanism to musically demonstrate quantum single-particle interference: the musical Mach–Zehnder interferometer. Tis new quantum musical instrument makes use of two independently operated electronic keyboards, whose outputs are interfered according to the rules of the Mach–Zehnder interferometer. I discuss the musical possibilities this instrument enables, and outline a method to construct it via sofware simulation.
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References
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