″...the half-silvered mirror rule is “Multiply by 1 when the photon goes straight, and multiply by i when the photon turns at a right angle.”
We appear to have defined everything needful, except the word “when”.
Accepting that we are just performing ‘operations’ on ‘configurations’, what decides which operation will be performed? Is it the configuration of the incoming photon? Is it some magical (i.e.quantum) property of a half of a silver?
I was confused about it too, but understood that what is meant is, that the ‘half-silvered mirror rule’ is a rule that does two things at once, namely x: (x*1, x*i), so it’s a multi-valued operation.
So… I’m confused. You say:
″...the half-silvered mirror rule is “Multiply by 1 when the photon goes straight, and multiply by i when the photon turns at a right angle.”
We appear to have defined everything needful, except the word “when”.
Accepting that we are just performing ‘operations’ on ‘configurations’, what decides which operation will be performed? Is it the configuration of the incoming photon? Is it some magical (i.e.quantum) property of a half of a silver?
It was intended to be clear that all operations are performed and propagated throughout the entire system, I think.
It’s not clear to everyone; I didn’t get it until reading your comment.
I was confused about it too, but understood that what is meant is, that the ‘half-silvered mirror rule’ is a rule that does two things at once, namely x: (x*1, x*i), so it’s a multi-valued operation.