Insights Blog
-- Browse All Articles --
Physics Articles
Physics Tutorials
Physics Guides
Physics FAQ
Math Articles
Math Tutorials
Math Guides
Math FAQ
Education Articles
Education Guides
Bio/Chem Articles
Technology Guides
Computer Science Tutorials
Forums
Classical Physics
Quantum Physics
Quantum Interpretations
Special and General Relativity
Atomic and Condensed Matter
Nuclear and Particle Physics
Beyond the Standard Model
Cosmology
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Other Physics Topics
Trending
Featured Threads
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Classical Physics
Quantum Physics
Quantum Interpretations
Special and General Relativity
Atomic and Condensed Matter
Nuclear and Particle Physics
Beyond the Standard Model
Cosmology
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Other Physics Topics
Menu
Log in
Register
Navigation
More options
Contact us
Close Menu
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Forums
Physics
Quantum Physics
Can superposition be attained for multiple states at once?
Reply to thread
Message
[QUOTE="Nugatory, post: 6170455, member: 382138"] A quantum system always has only one state. Superposition just means that it is mathematically possible to write the state in different ways. For example any state ##|\psi\rangle## can be written in the form ##|\psi\rangle=\alpha|up\rangle+\beta|down=\gamma|left\rangle+\delta|right\rangle=\epsilon|45\rangle+\zeta|225\rangle## - a superposition of up/down and also a superposition of left/right and of the two diagonal axes, and we could choose any other angle as well if we wanted. So yes, a state can be a superposition of more than one thing; in fact, it always is. You can’t make them independent of one another, because there’s only one way of writing any particular state as (for example) a sum of up/down and as a sum of left/right. So once you’ve chosen your state ##|\psi\rangle## to be a particular superposition of up and down (that is, you've chosen particular values for ##\alpha## and ##\beta##) you've determined the values of ##\gamma## and ##\delta## so in that sense they're not independent. However, all four of them can be non-zero so the state still a superposition of up/down and left/right and you cannot predict with certainty a measurement on either axis. So say you have prepared the particle in such a state and then... The measurement of up/down will collapse the wave function into either ##|up\rangle## or ##|down\rangle##. Both of these states are superpositions of left and right; for example ##|up\rangle=|left\rangle+|right\rangle##. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Post reply
Forums
Physics
Quantum Physics
Can superposition be attained for multiple states at once?
Back
Top