Event-by-Event Simulation of Quantum Phenomena

Recent advances in nanotechnology are paving the way to attain control over individual microscopic objects. The ability to prepare, manipulate, couple and measure single microscopic systems facilitate the study of single quantum systems at the level of individual events. Such experiments address the most fundamental aspects of quantum theory. Indeed, quantum theory gives us only a recipe to compute the frequencies for observing events but it does not describe individual events, such as the arrival of a single electron at a particular position on the detection screen. Reconciling the mathematical formalism (that does not describe single events) with the experimental fact that each observation yields a definite outcome is often referred to as the quantum measurement paradox. It is the most fundamental problem in the foundation of quantum theory.