Recent content by Elroy

Hi scottdave, I'll be writing the software myself to do this, but I've got to understand how to do it first. And yes, I may get into quaternions before I'm done. Let me see if I can pull together some figures to illustrate an example. Alright, the following figure represents a basis in 3D...

Homework Statement Linear Algebra Problem: Solving for Euler between two ordered bases I've got a problem I need to solve, but I can't find a clean solution. Let me see if I can outline the problem somewhat clearly. Okay, all of this will be in 3D space. In this space, we can define some...

Yes, I think I "get" the concept (and the mathematics) of, say, putting a qubit through a Hadamard gate and then putting it and another qubit through a CNOT gate, which is effectively what you mathematically outlined. I further understand, if Alice and Bob measure in the same way, that a...

Just to say a bit more, that's the "opening of loophole #1" in explaining how QM is different from classical situations. In the classical world, we can measure things without changing them. I can measure the width, depth, and height of my refrigerator without changing it. However, to explain...

Ok, I'll comment on Jimster's post a bit first. Wow, truth be told, I'm still trying to get rock solid on all the implications of the wave function (and the whole wave-particle duality thing). I'll start thinking about Lorentz transformations and different inertial frames of reference once I...

DEvans, hopefully I would never shout you down. :) However, as I understand it, you have the interpretation of Bell's inequality exactly backwards. There is a good thread where we've been discussing these very issues: https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/bells-inequality.791592/ Please...

Jilang, your idea of taking the square root is interesting, but we can't just do arbitrary mathematical manipulations. In other words, all of our equalities (or inequalities) have to be grounded in empirical experimental evidence. Sure, we can set up mathematical models upon which to form...

After some contemplation, I've decided to ask a related question in this thread. I hope it's not viewed as hijacking the thread. Here's the question: What is superposition (of, let's say, the polarization of a photon)? In a certain sense, this is exactly the same question that Superposed_Cat...

Oh gosh, I know Nugatory. I'm hopefully just allowing for the opportunity for me and others to think through the consequences of these experiments.

I'll wade into this one a bit. It's my understanding that this proof is not exactly about violations of Bell's inequalities. They are violated either way. However, if we can argue that the polarization was established at the creation of the EPR pairs, then local causality (with nothing...

I've struggled with it too, Feeble. From our human "perceptual" position, it just "seems" like a wave needs a medium (like water or air). However, as I understand them, there is no medium for EM waves. Furthermore, it's a mistake to think of them as a particle that is vibrating. It helps...

Alright, I'm still on the idea of straightforward (and visual) explanations of the violations of Bell's inequalities, and how they illustrate the quantum weirdness. I'm going to lay out some pieces here, and open them up to discussion. Bell’s inequality is often stated as ρ(a,c) – ρ(b,a) –...

Yes, I'd like to wholeheartedly second bhobba's above comment. For me, it's important that we can develop an (accurate) "conceptual" understanding of these phenomena, possibly with a great deal of use of "everyday" language. Everyday language has the problem in that it's sometimes slippery...

I was just trying to convey the idea that, without two slits (with only one slit) (classically, seemingly like fewer options for the photon), it would then be able to get to the center of the troughs in the above sinusoidal (interference pattern) image. And yes, I didn't mean to imply that...

I'd like to say a bit more about the two-slit experiment. I think we all agree that a photon is the smallest quanta of light that can be "detected". Anything smaller is rather theoretical, and this is where we must think of waves (rather than particles). The reason the sinusoidal pattern of...