Complex conjugate of wave function

Amith2006

A wave function(psi) is a mathematical quantity which gives complete information about the state of a system at a particular instant of time. But what information does the complex conjugate of a wave function(psi*) give? Does it represent the same state as psi? Or does it just have a mathematical significance and no physical significance?

ice109

it's the same thing

Amith2006

thanx.

Maaneli

It's not exactly the "same thing". The c.c. wavefunction describes the time-reversed wavefunction (travelling backward in time).

Amith2006

Thats great! After u mentioned about time reversal, I had a look at time reversal operator and noticed the same thing. Also, time reversal operator being an anti-unitary operator preserves fundamental commutation relations, isn't it?