Interpretation Definition and 803 Threads

Hi Guys I have recently been reacquainting myself with Ballantines - Quantum Mechanics - A Modern Development. He is pretty big on the Ensemble interpretation, and I must admit I am rather attracted to it as well - none of this collapse of a wave function stuff, many worlds etc. He also makes...

Resolve f(t) in terms of step,impulse and ramp functions.

I've watched the Susskind lectures on QM and Quantum Entanglements. Susskind seems to avoid many of the interpretation issues inherent in QM. For example, he never talks about the wave function collapsing due to the involvement of "conscious mind". He does show, mathematically, that wave...

I am starting to become confused when reading about quantum mechanics and its treatment of photons. I heard somewhere (I can't recall where) that the characteristic intensity of a photon beam was give by I = E/\omega, where \omega is the angular frequency of the beam. However, I can't seem to...

The De Broglie's wavelength is given by λ = h / mv h = 6.626 x 10^(-34) Js Now, if a macro-object of 6.626 kg is moving at a speed of 10^(-34) m/s then its De Broglie's wavelength comes out to be 1 meter (metre). What does it mean to have 1 meter wavelength for that object? If another object...

Can all formulas be thought of intuitively/physically? For example, average speed is change in distance over change in time, that is intuitive and can easily be derived But when you have something like v^2 = u^2 + 2ax, or e=mc^2, how do you think of it intuitively? Specifically the squared...

Hi, All: Just curious to know if there is an interpretation for lower cohomology that is as "nice", as that of the lower fundamental groups, i.e., Pi_0(X) =0 if X is path-connected (continuous maps from S^0:={-1,1} into a space X are constant), and Pi_1(X)=0 if X is...

Several sources states that the graph of electroluminescence carries with it some characteristics of the material that emit the radiation. How can we interpret the graph so as to extract those characteristics? Please help me on this.

Where I can read about Bohmian interpretation of QM? I need a good , solid book.

Hello, While the majority of physicists embrace the Many Worlds interpretation of quantum decoherence, I am holding out hope for the Copenhagen interpretation or better yet, a undiscovered interpretation. Please allow me to pose three problems I have with the MW interpretation. 1) There...

What is a good book that I could read about Many-worlds interpretation and what Hugh Everett was thinking.

To my understanding you can believe in the multiverse theory without subscribing to many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. But can you subscribe to the many-worlds interpretation while also believing there is only this one universe (and that it just has hidden dimensions). Can...

Hello. In a software application I am attempting to smooth a data set by convoluting it with a discrete Gaussian kernel. Based upon information garnered online, I've been using this Mathematica command to generate the kernel: kern = Table[Exp[-k^2/100]/Sqrt[2. Pi], {k, -range, range}]; where...

Why are the Time Symmetric Interpretation rarely if ever brought up in discussions here? It restores determinism and realism. This article explains the jist of the interpretation and experimental evidence...

I am analyzing the lengthwise temperature distribution in a cooling fin (length: 30mm, width: 10mm, the tip is assumed to be adiabatic, Biot number is smaller than 0.1). When I try to calculate the dimensionless temperature distribution (see calculation below), I obtain a curve which has a...

"physical" interpretation of the Laplace operator Is there a "physical" interpretation of the Laplace operator, much like there exists a physical interpretation of the divergence and curl?

physical interpretation of the "rotation" of a ket Homework Statement No problem statement. I'm just having trouble imagining what it means to "rotate" a quantum -ket, especially since not all -kets are eigenstates of position. I know what the rotation operator is. I also can picture...

Hi all. Here is an n-particle hamltonian. H=\int d^{3}xa^{\dagger}(x)\Bigl(-\frac{\hbar^{2}}{2m}\nabla^{2}+U(x)\Bigr)a(x)+\int d^{3}xd^{3}yV(x-y)a^{\dagger}(x)a^{\dagger}(y)a(x)a(y) Here is an n-particle state. \Bigr|\psi,t\Bigl\rangle=\int...

Hello Forum, I've been reading about MWI, the Bohm interpretation, and Feynman QED. Combining elements from these interpretations, I've been building up my own simple mental model of 'how to picture the state of affairs', and I've been speculating about the feasibility of interpretations...

Hello! If one uses the Lindhard formula to calculate the static polarizability of an electron gas, \chi(q), you get a function which is pretty much a constant until q=2k_F with k_F being the Fermi wave vector. After this it decays(it's on page 335 of Ashcroft and Mermin). But what is the...

In "Does the inertia of a body depend upon its energy content?," http://fourmilab.ch/etexts/einstein/E_mc2/www/ , Einstein says: My interpretation of this is that these energies contain both potential and kinetic terms. A potential energy U is only defined up to an additive constant. If, for...

When dealing with the Euler-Lagrange equation in a physical setting, one usually uses the Hamiltonian L=T-V as the value to be extremized. What is the physical interpretation of the extremizing of this value?

This is not my theory, or even new, rather pertaining to established physical knowledge, but I simply find it fascinating. It pertains to several areas of physics, and/or variational mathematics, so I've posted it here in the General Physics area. My reasons for posting is because it is one...

　 We know Copenhagen settles for computational rules connecting human observations rather than striving to comprehend the nature of the underlying reality. Heisenberg eventually did try to form a coherence picture of what is actually happening. But how come this Heisenberg Interpretation is not...

I was reading Tom Apostol's expostion of Euler's Summation Formula ( http://www.jstor.org/pss/2589145) and it occurred to me that it would be convenient to visualize \int_a^b x f'(x) geometrically. In that article, it arises from integration by parts: \int_a^b f(x) dx = |_a^b x f(x)...

This is a continuation of discussions from another thread: https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=490677&page=2 I believe it deserves its own thread instead of hijacking the other one. "Ref 3" in what follows is this paper: L.E. Ballentine, "The Statistical Interpretation of...

I just start to study quantum mechanics and i don't understand why square of wave function is probability density function. I think the reason of taking square of wave function is because we should eliminate complex compounds of wave function to get a real magnitute. But after why don't we take...

For those of us trapped in a corner with difficult choices of whether to believe many worlds are splitted off billions of times every second or whether there is Godlike power to collapse the wave function in the universe or whether waves can travel forward or backward in time (Transactional) or...

My question: 1) In diagram (b), is there a reason why Vo is to the left of 15 ohm resistor and not to the right? (which wouldn't produce the same answer) cf. diagram (a) It might be a minor point but I'd like to know the specific reason Thanks

I think it's time for the annual quantum interpretation poll. Vote for which interpretation you currently think represents reality.

Hello everyone, :wink: Have a see on this link:- http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/7236/vinvout.jpg Diagram #1 is what I found in a book. I couldn't understand how this circuit will be transformed into practical form. Therefore, in Diagram #2 I have my interpretation presented. Is it any...

My friend asked me what does a 540 MW power plant mean and how to interpret, I said it can lift a 1 Kilo Ton object to a height of 1 KM in about 3 Mins. My calculation is based on the equation of potential energy to the time taken by the power plant to produce that energy. Is this the...

When you solve the motion equation x=x_0 +v_0t +\frac{1}{2}at^2 you get two answers for t. One being a negative due to the quadratic. What is the physical interpretation of this? Its driving me nuts.

hi guys,does anyone knows what is the physical interpretation of second(third, fourth,...) derivative?

I collect here info from another thread, to have a more focussed discussion. ''this particular assumption'' refers to the assumption that |psi(x_1,...,x_n|^2 is the probability density of observing simultaneously particle k at position x_k (k=1:N). Please show me a comparison with experiment...

I don't seem to be able to fully wrap my head around the equivalence of standard QM and 0+1 QFT. In particular, I am having difficulty with the relationship between the correlator in QFT, <T\phi(t_1) \phi(t_2)> and the propagator in QM, <x', t' |x,t>. First of all, is there any relationship...

On an oriented surface, the integral of the Gauss curvature over a smooth triangle can be interpreted as the angle of rotation of a vector that is parallel translated once around the three bounding edges. How does one interpret the integral of the Gauss curvature of an arbitrary SO(20 bundle...

It seems like a problem that a physicist would need to solve, but I can't wrap my head around the physical interpretation of it. http://exampleproblems.com/wiki/index.php/CoV7 Also, why do they use u=c*x2? What is c in this case? It says "classical" so it can't be the speed of light, right?

I have read that MWI predicts that gravity is quantised. Is this prediction unique to MWI? If for example, someone discovered a quantum theory of gravity that was correct, that MWI would be declared the only valid interpretation of QM and that interpretations such the Copenhagen interpretation...

Some more info about it is here: http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/Front/tofc.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_sensing Anyways, does anyone here know about remote sensing careers, and what it takes to get into one?

Hi guys. What is really the need for complex numbers? Is there any physical meaning associated with it?

Below is a spacetime diagram which depicts the movement of a rod, four units long, relative to another rod of equal length. The red lines are the "moving" rod; the purple lines are the "stationary" rod. The gray lines are the world lines of the unit marks (0, 1, 2, 3, 4) on each rod. As I...

Can anyone help me with the following? satisfaction and models: The sentence α : ∀x(odd(x) ⊃ even(s(x))) is not logically implied by the set S of 4 sentences: even(0) odd(s(0)) ∀x(even(x) ⊃ even(s(s(x)))) ∀x(even(s(x)) ⊃ odd(x)) Prove that this is so by identifying an interpretation...

I am having trouble understanding (not for homework) what a wave packet is in terms of the correspondence of the idea of a wave packet to a "point like" particle. I'd like to focus on the 1d wave packet ultimately, but in order to describe my consternation -- let me detour to a well defined...

Hi I am trying to figure out the physical interpretation of tensor indices. E.g., if we have an anisotropic material, then the tensor element of the susceptibility xx,y gives the response in the x-direction of an electric field in the y-direction. Lets not go up one dimension and look at...

Homework Statement hi, i have been given a question and would appreciate help in interpreting it. given a plane, state the problem of finding points on the intersection of the plane and the line in the form Ax=d, where A is a 3by3 matrix, x and d are vectors. Homework Equations The...

how would you learn to interpret the components of something like this? Am i seeing the whole cross-sectional area of a cell? http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/begin/cells/membranes/images/tomography.jpg (insulin-producing pancreas cell...

Hi all. Just have a quick question on perturbation theory. Let's consider a molecule in ground electronic state. If a time-independent external perturbation acts on the molecule, the average electronic energy is going to change. From time-independent perturbation theory, we know that <E> =...

Please forgive me if I am hideously wrong in any of my points. I am not terribly well-versed in quantum physics. Alright. This all began when I was thinking of a somewhat speculative and arguably philosophical idea that probably wouldn't have much of a place on this forum. My train of...

We all know \int \frac{1}{x} dx = ln(x) + c but if you try to apply the power rule for integration: \int x^n dx = \frac{x^{n+1}}{n+1} + c you get \int x^{-1} dx = \frac{x^0}{0} What can you learn from this/what does this mean? David