Heisenberg's Principle: Understanding Time & Energy

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, specifically focusing on the relationship between time and energy. Participants explore the implications of this principle in the context of quantum mechanics, addressing both conceptual and technical aspects.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant expresses confusion about the time-energy aspect of Heisenberg's principle, questioning why both cannot be measured exactly.
  • Another participant suggests that energy defines how particles interact, implying that time is necessary for these interactions to occur.
  • A different viewpoint posits that accurately surveying the energy of a system requires time, leading to inaccuracies in time measurement.
  • One participant introduces a more technical explanation involving the energy distribution of wave packets and their evolution over time, referencing a claim that a common interpretation of the time-energy relationship has been challenged by Aharonov and Bohm.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not appear to reach a consensus on the interpretation of the time-energy uncertainty relation, with multiple competing views and interpretations presented.

Contextual Notes

Some statements rely on specific interpretations of quantum mechanics and may depend on the definitions of terms like "energy" and "time." The discussion includes references to theoretical claims that are not universally accepted.

pi.rootpi
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Hi, I've a doubt!
The principle says that we cannot find simultaneity the position and the momentum of a particle, I understand this because if I haven't understood bad it's because to find the position of a particle we need to trhow photons to it (and more and more) as much as we want to be precis and this changes its velocity.

The one i don't understant is the one of time and energy. Why can't we find both exactly?


Thanks!
 
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Energy defines how particle interact with the others. So you need to give it some time to interact.
 
Energy is a kind of cumulation effect. If you want to survey the energy of a system accurately, you need some time. So the time becomes inaccurate.
 
It's the inequality obeyed by the deviation of the energy distibution of the states forming a wave packet that evolves with a wave function \Psi(t). In other words, a relation between the energy distribution of a wave packet and the characteristic time it takes to deform.

The interpretation stating that "the more accurately you want to measure the energy of a system, the more time it takes to measure" was shown to be wrong by Aharonov and Bohm in http://cos.cumt.edu.cn/jpkc/dxwl/zl/zl1/Physical%20Review%20Classics/quantum/019.pdf"
 
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