Computer-simulated quantum physics?

[Gerinski]

There is so much discussion about what does "really happen" at the quantum level, because we can not directly observe the most minute details of quantum systems, and much is left to inference and to the "interpretations". Does the system really collapse by transferring state information to its environment, does superposition of states hold and for how long, does the world split in two or more versions of itself, do particles follow a guiding wave, do they react to advanced waves from the future etc etc.

Now that we have the power of computer simulation, could we not use it to overcome, to bypass, our limitations of actual observation? Could we build computer simulated systems in which we could "actually observe" what happens between the particles according to the different interpretations?

Maybe that could be a good pedagogical tool and perhaps help in understanding some much-discussed concepts? I have no idea of programming computer simulations but just as example I imagine the Quantum Zeno effect experiments by Itano et al in which they demonstrated this effect with beryllium atoms, and I can perfectly imagine a computer simulation showing visually what is supposed to happen to the atoms and their electrons as the experiment goes on (which in turn prove that quantum superposition is a real phenomenon, as far as I understand).

Has anybody though of this? Do such simulations perhaps exist already?

TX

 

[Orodruin]

There is so much discussion about what does "really happen" at the quantum level, because we can not directly observe the most minute details of quantum systems, and much is left to inference and to the "interpretations"

Interpretations have absolutely nothing to do with observations. They are different ways of viewing what in essence are the same theory.

You can also never settle anything in observational science by a simulation. What would you base that simulation on? You will get out whatever model you put into your simulation software.

 

[redtree]

The mathematical model is the simulation. A better mathematical model would answer the questions.