| _version_ | 1866901543317405696 |
|---|---|
| author | Holdway, Craig Edwin |
| author_facet | Holdway, Craig Edwin |
| contents | <p>This work presents a minimal, experimentally testable deviation from standard two-path interference arising from an underlying discrete phase structure.</p> <p>At the level of a single interference fringe, the deviation can be written as a first-harmonic term,<br>appearing as a coupled visibility rescaling and phase offset. However, such a term is not directly observable as a unique signal, since it can be fully absorbed into standard sinusoidal fitting.</p> <p>For this reason, the primary prediction is not a fringe-shape deviation, but a transformation-level constraint.</p> <p>Under controlled quarter-phase shifts, the residual quadrature components are predicted to obey a structured <span class="katex"><span class="katex-mathml">Z_4</span><span class="katex-html"><span class="base"><span class="mord"><span class="msupsub"><span class="vlist-t vlist-t2"><span class="vlist-r"><span class="vlist-s"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> rotation law. This produces a calibration-invariant signature that cannot be generically reproduced by noise, detector imbalance, or ordinary fitting procedures.</p> <p>A set of null-control conditions is provided to isolate this behavior experimentally, requiring that the signal:</p> <ul> <li>is present only under coherent two-path interference,</li> <li>remains stable across repeated measurements,</li> <li>does not track controllable experimental parameters,</li> <li>and satisfies a quadrature-cycling consistency condition under phase shifts.</li> </ul> <p>A characteristic magnitude for the effect is estimated under a class of structural assumptions, yielding a candidate scale on the order of <span class="katex"><span class="katex-mathml">10^{-4}</span></span> with a more strongly suppressed regime near <span class="katex"><span class="katex-mathml">10^{-7}</span></span>. These values lie near the sensitivity threshold of high-precision interferometric measurements.</p> <p>The result is a concrete, falsifiable prediction: a nonzero residual that obeys a <span class="katex"><span class="katex-mathml">Z_4</span><span class="katex-html"><span class="base"><span class="mord"><span class="msupsub"><span class="vlist-t vlist-t2"><span class="vlist-r"><span class="vlist-s"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>-locked quadrature cycling law under controlled phase shifts. Absence of such a signal at a given sensitivity constrains the corresponding transport regime rather than invalidating the model outright.</p> <p>This document isolates the observable prediction and experimental test independently of the broader theoretical framework from which it is derived.</p> <p>A falsifiable prediction of a calibration-invariant, <span class="katex"><span class="katex-mathml">Z_4</span><span class="katex-html"><span class="base"><span class="mord"><span class="msupsub"><span class="vlist-t vlist-t2"><span class="vlist-r"><span class="vlist-s"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>-locked quadrature cycling residual in high-precision interference experiments, together with a phase-cycling protocol that distinguishes it from conventional systematics.</p> |
| format | Recurso digital |
| id | zenodo_https___doi_org_10_5281_zenodo_19802751 |
| institution | Zenodo |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publisher | Zenodo |
| record_format | zenodo |
| spellingShingle | A Testable First-Harmonic Bias in Two-Path Interference from Discrete Phase Structure Holdway, Craig Edwin quantum interference two-path interference ach-Zehnder interferometer phase measurement interference fringes phase shift visibility phase noise precision measurement optical interferometry quantum foundations experimental test first-harmonic bias phase-cycling discrete phase structure phase quantization emergent phase nonstandard interference <p>This work presents a minimal, experimentally testable deviation from standard two-path interference arising from an underlying discrete phase structure.</p> <p>At the level of a single interference fringe, the deviation can be written as a first-harmonic term,<br>appearing as a coupled visibility rescaling and phase offset. However, such a term is not directly observable as a unique signal, since it can be fully absorbed into standard sinusoidal fitting.</p> <p>For this reason, the primary prediction is not a fringe-shape deviation, but a transformation-level constraint.</p> <p>Under controlled quarter-phase shifts, the residual quadrature components are predicted to obey a structured <span class="katex"><span class="katex-mathml">Z_4</span><span class="katex-html"><span class="base"><span class="mord"><span class="msupsub"><span class="vlist-t vlist-t2"><span class="vlist-r"><span class="vlist-s"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> rotation law. This produces a calibration-invariant signature that cannot be generically reproduced by noise, detector imbalance, or ordinary fitting procedures.</p> <p>A set of null-control conditions is provided to isolate this behavior experimentally, requiring that the signal:</p> <ul> <li>is present only under coherent two-path interference,</li> <li>remains stable across repeated measurements,</li> <li>does not track controllable experimental parameters,</li> <li>and satisfies a quadrature-cycling consistency condition under phase shifts.</li> </ul> <p>A characteristic magnitude for the effect is estimated under a class of structural assumptions, yielding a candidate scale on the order of <span class="katex"><span class="katex-mathml">10^{-4}</span></span> with a more strongly suppressed regime near <span class="katex"><span class="katex-mathml">10^{-7}</span></span>. These values lie near the sensitivity threshold of high-precision interferometric measurements.</p> <p>The result is a concrete, falsifiable prediction: a nonzero residual that obeys a <span class="katex"><span class="katex-mathml">Z_4</span><span class="katex-html"><span class="base"><span class="mord"><span class="msupsub"><span class="vlist-t vlist-t2"><span class="vlist-r"><span class="vlist-s"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>-locked quadrature cycling law under controlled phase shifts. Absence of such a signal at a given sensitivity constrains the corresponding transport regime rather than invalidating the model outright.</p> <p>This document isolates the observable prediction and experimental test independently of the broader theoretical framework from which it is derived.</p> <p>A falsifiable prediction of a calibration-invariant, <span class="katex"><span class="katex-mathml">Z_4</span><span class="katex-html"><span class="base"><span class="mord"><span class="msupsub"><span class="vlist-t vlist-t2"><span class="vlist-r"><span class="vlist-s"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>-locked quadrature cycling residual in high-precision interference experiments, together with a phase-cycling protocol that distinguishes it from conventional systematics.</p> |
| title | A Testable First-Harmonic Bias in Two-Path Interference from Discrete Phase Structure |
| topic | quantum interference two-path interference ach-Zehnder interferometer phase measurement interference fringes phase shift visibility phase noise precision measurement optical interferometry quantum foundations experimental test first-harmonic bias phase-cycling discrete phase structure phase quantization emergent phase nonstandard interference |
| url | https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19802751 |