Quotes Tagged "wavefunction"

Wavefunction collapse is a generator of knowledge: it is not so much a process that gives us the answers, but is the process by which answers are created. The outcome of that process can’t, in general, be predicted with certainty, but quantum mechanics gives us a method for calculating the probabilities of particular outcomes. That’s all we can ask for.
Tags: wavefunction, science, quantum-mechanics, probabilities, physics, outcome, knowledge, generator, answers
[T]he wavefunction of the electron in [a] box can penetrate into the walls. If the walls aren’t too thick, the wavefunction can actually extend right through them, so that it still has a non-zero value on the outside. What this tells you is that there is a small chance – equal to the amplitude of the wavefunction squared in that part of space – that if you make a measurement of where the electron is, you might find it within the wall, or even outside the wall.
Tags: wavefunction, science, quantum-mechanics, measurement
The wavefunction of superposed states doesn’t say anything about what the photon is ‘like’. It is a tool for letting you predict what you will measure. And what you will measure for a superposed state like this is that sometimes the measurement device registers a photon with a vertical polarization, and sometimes with a horizontal one. If the superposed state is described by a wavefunction that has an equal weighting of the vertical and horizontal wavefunctions, then 50% of your measurements will give the result ‘vertical’ and 50% will indicate ‘horizontal’. If you accept Bohr’s rigour/complacency (delete to taste), we don’t need to worry what the superposed state ‘is’ before making a measurement, but can just accept that such a state will sometimes give us one result and sometimes another, with a probability defined by the weightings of the superposed wavefunctions in the Schrödinger equation. It all adds up to a consistent picture.
Tags: wavefunction, science, quantum-mechanics, probability, measurement