Can a falling atom make a noise in two forests at the same time?

Summary form only given.Some recent theories offer ways to discuss the history of a tunneling particle. Surprising and experimentally testable predictions exist for whether particles spend a significant amount of time in the center of the barrier they traverse and suggest that they may occupy space on both sides of the barrier simultaneously. An approach based on Aharonov and Vaidman´s weak measurement formalism implies that a particle´s entire wave function has physical reality and measurable influences. The resulting complex times and their implications for optical measurements on tunneling atoms are described. Inequalities that could distinguish the expected results from a class of theories that treat the wave function as purely statistical and deny the possibility of a particle being in two places at once are looked for in parallel with experimental effort. This is the motivation for a set of laser cooling and atom optics experiments being set up. The current status of our experiment to laser cool rubidium atoms and allow them to tunnel through an intense, far-detuned beam is described. We are using a double magneto-optical trap geometry to transfer the atoms into a magnetic trap in an extremely high vacuum region, where an acousto-optically modulated beam will be used to velocity select the atoms in one dimension and subsequently form a tunable, time-variable tunnel barrier. By using optical pumping and Raman beams as probes, we plan to measure how long the tunneling atoms spend in different regions of space. In particular, we will investigate the measurable consequences of the tunneling particle´s being in two places at one time.