The Double-Slit Experiment Of Quantum Theory Through Systemic Functional Linguistics [2]

Gribbin (1990: 170):

The diffraction pattern of the electron two-hole experiment is a pattern of ψ² [wave intensity]. If there are many electrons in the beam, this has a simple interpretation — ψ² represents the probability of finding an electron in some particular place.  Thousands of electrons rush through the two holes, and where they end up can be predicted on a statistical basis using this interpretation of the ψ wave — Born's great contribution to quantum cookery.  But what happens to each individual electron? …

And we still get this pattern if we slow down our electron gun so much that only one electron at a time goes through the whole setup.  One electron goes through one hole, we would guess, and arrives at our detector; then another electron is let through, and so on.  If we wait patiently for enough electrons to pass through, the pattern that builds up on our detector screen is the diffraction pattern for waves.

Blogger Comment:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic theory, this demonstrates that the wave model is a construal of experience as the probability of a quantum system as potential.  Each electron is a construal of experience as instance, and the diffraction pattern is the accumulation of instances, with instance frequencies in line with the probabilities of the system as potential.