- #1
StevieTNZ
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Last night I started reading the section of Brian Cox's "The Quantum Universe" where they discuss how to calculate the probability of a particle being found at a particular position.
What he has stated first is if we have an initial position, at any later time we can find the particle at any spot in the universe. Okay, all good so far.
An example is given where we roughly know where the particle is initially, and we want to calculate the probability of it being at spot X in the future. All possible routes from where it could be initially are calculated producing a final probability for X. Now they're saying because of interference, most of the routes cancel each other out (at least, I get that impression). But in the end, the conclusion is it "effectively has no chance of being found at X".
Effectively no chance? No probability at all, or a small probability? In one breath you say a particle can hop to every other position in the universe in an instance (even if its in a superposition, saying it can be anywhere would seem to me that it does NOT have probability 0 of being at particular points. When you say something is in a superposition of state A and state B and state C, you wouldn't say its in a superposition of all three if state C had no chance of occurring).
Would it be correct from the get-go we need to consider the particle to be in every possible position in the universe to calculate the probability we find it at position X?
In all honesty reading this section has made me more confused.
What he has stated first is if we have an initial position, at any later time we can find the particle at any spot in the universe. Okay, all good so far.
An example is given where we roughly know where the particle is initially, and we want to calculate the probability of it being at spot X in the future. All possible routes from where it could be initially are calculated producing a final probability for X. Now they're saying because of interference, most of the routes cancel each other out (at least, I get that impression). But in the end, the conclusion is it "effectively has no chance of being found at X".
Effectively no chance? No probability at all, or a small probability? In one breath you say a particle can hop to every other position in the universe in an instance (even if its in a superposition, saying it can be anywhere would seem to me that it does NOT have probability 0 of being at particular points. When you say something is in a superposition of state A and state B and state C, you wouldn't say its in a superposition of all three if state C had no chance of occurring).
Would it be correct from the get-go we need to consider the particle to be in every possible position in the universe to calculate the probability we find it at position X?
In all honesty reading this section has made me more confused.