Question

In a double slit experiment, there is a screen coated with a special material such that a tiny dot appears when a photon collides with it. You have a light source that can emit individual photons, one at a time. A single photon is emitted from the source, passes through the double slit, and strikes the screen, leaving a dot on the screen. As more photons are emitted, making more dots on the screen, you notice that the dots appear in a pattern.

What pattern do the dots make?

A. The dots appear in a single densely populated region
B. The dots are distributed in a series of alternating densely populated and sparsely populated fringes, consistent with the interference pattern made by a wave
C. The dots are randomly distributed over the screen, forming no discernible pattern
D. The dots appear in two densely populated regions, corresponding to the two slits.

Answer 1

B. The dots are distributed in a series of alternating densely populated and sparsely populated fringes, consistent with the interference pattern made by a wave

Step-by-step explanation:

Different of classical mechanics, in quantum mechanics the probability distribution in a double slits experiment presents an interference pattern like waves. In this context, the photons (particles of light) present a kind of correlation between them, that makes they present a distribution in the screen as an interference pattern. It is not possible to demostrate this fact mathematically from another physic principle, it simply a fact of the nature of the quantum mechanics. Hence, the dots are distributed in an interference pattern.