A photon tunnelling camera images barrier leakage. Why can path-speed claims stay disputed?
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Answer: Proxy measurement limits
Mirror loss correction — Mirror loss correction matters because the experiment images light leaking through a microcavity mirror. But correcting losses is not the same as proving a particle trajectory. The debate starts when a density-transfer signal is interpreted as a speed or path inside a forbidden region.
Proxy measurement limits ✓ — Correct. The 2025 Nature experiment reconstructed photon densities in a microcavity and inferred an energy-speed relation, but the paper notes the scheme does not determine direction of motion and is not a velocity measurement in the usual sense. A 2026 response argued the interpretation still did not settle the Bohmian claim.
Laser heating noise — Laser heating or intensity noise would be an ordinary systematic error, and good experiments must control it. The deeper issue here is interpretive: the camera sees population and leakage patterns, not a filmed photon path. A stable laser still leaves the question of what the proxy proves.
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