Researchers at the National University of Australia conducted a quantum experiment and found that reality does not exist until it is measured. Reported by Nature.
The theory is relevant for very small scale objects. The main question of researchers was when exactly a particle or wave "decides" how it should behave.
For the first time a similar experiment was proposed by a physicist from the United States, John Wheeler, in 1978. He wanted to use beams of light reflected by mirrors. In those days, technology did not allow such an experiment, and only 40 years later, a group of Australian scientists were able to implement Wheeler's experiment using helium atoms interacting with laser beams.
The researchers trapped the atoms in a "Bose-Einstein condensate" state that allows quantum effects to be observed at the macroscopic level, and then removed all but one of the atoms. They passed him between two laser beams and created an opportunity to choose any path.
As a result, the atom set off along both possible paths the way a wave would, that is, according to scientists, it "was not determined." But in a repeated experiment, when the second "grid" of rays was removed, the atom chose only one possible path.
“Our research proves that measurement is everything. On a quantum level, reality doesn't exist if you can't see it,”said study leader Andrew Truscott.