THE STRANGE THEORY OF LIGHT AND MATTER and uncertainty principle

[exponent137]

"THE STRANGE THEORY OF LIGHT AND MATTER " and uncertainty principle

In Feynman's QED: THE STRANGE THEORY OF LIGHT AND MATTER it is used one elementary QM formula W=h\nu. But it is not described principle of uncertainty, which is the second most important formula. Do you have any idea, how to similarly describe principle of uncertainty (in the spirit of his book)? The main principle of derivation of principle of uncertainty is Fourier's transformation of location is momentum... If location is described by Gaussian curve, momentum is described by Gaussian curve. Product of thinkness of both curves is principle of uncertainty.
But how to see a wave packet of photon (or electron) in the spirit of the Feynman's book? How to see a wave packet of momentum?

 

[eljose79]

Dear fellow scientist,

Thank you for bringing up this interesting topic of the principle of uncertainty in relation to Feynman's QED: THE STRANGE THEORY OF LIGHT AND MATTER. As you mentioned, the principle of uncertainty is a fundamental concept in quantum mechanics and is closely related to the formula W=h\nu, which describes the energy of a photon.

To answer your question about how to similarly describe the principle of uncertainty in the spirit of Feynman's book, I believe it is important to first understand the concept of wave-particle duality. In quantum mechanics, particles can exhibit both wave-like and particle-like behavior, and this duality is described by the wave function.

In the case of a photon or electron, the wave function can be represented as a wave packet, which is a localized disturbance in the quantum field. This wave packet contains information about the particle's position and momentum, and the principle of uncertainty states that the more precisely we know one of these quantities, the less precisely we can know the other.

To visualize this, we can imagine the wave packet as a blurred image, where the blurriness represents the uncertainty in the particle's position and momentum. The width of the wave packet represents the uncertainty in position, while the spread of the wave packet represents the uncertainty in momentum.

To further understand this concept, we can also think of the wave packet as a superposition of different momentum states. The more momentum states that are included in the superposition, the more spread out the wave packet will be, and thus, the more uncertain the particle's momentum will be.

In the spirit of Feynman's book, we can think of the principle of uncertainty as a fundamental limitation in our ability to know the exact properties of a particle. Just as Feynman beautifully explained the strange behavior of light and matter in his book, we can also appreciate the strange and mysterious nature of the principle of uncertainty.

I hope this helps in understanding the principle of uncertainty in the context of Feynman's book. As always, let us continue to explore and unravel the mysteries of the universe through science and curiosity.