Preparation of Superposition

In summary, the conversation discussed the preparation of superposition for two cases: 1. The system is in either one state, such as one electron in spin up or spin down, and 2. The system is in superposition of two states, such as 2 entangled electrons that are spin up and spin down. These cases are both called superposition, but they are distinguished by specific terms. The conversation also touched on the concept of mixed states, which can occur due to entanglement with the measuring device or environment, or through presenting states to be randomly observed. The experts in the conversation hold the belief that in proper mixtures, the state is there prior to observation and there is no collapse. They follow the minimal statistical
  • #36
bhobba said:
The dead and alive cat are never in superposition. The superposition is before the particle detector in the nucleus that emits the particle.

Please read the link I gave.

I will be taking my leave of this thread - you need to become acquainted with basic stuff.

Thanks
Bill

The link includes words like Linear Algebra in Dirac Notation. How do you expect us who know only how to add, subtract, multiply divide to comprehend them.
Hope others would give other easier reference with mostly verbal summaries..
Anyway. I think I understood the difference between superposition with and without entanglement.
Here's the summary:

1. Entanglement only works for subatomic particles in pure state, you can't entangle system already in mixed states.
2. Superposition is when the entanglement for instance takes all positions (say in position observable) .
3. The EPR pair can't be in entanglement with the apparatus because the apparatus is in mixed state.. which destroyed the EPR pair in pure state.

If the above are all correct. Then I understood it and end of thread. Hope someone can verify what I learned so far from the exchanges with Mr. Hobba. Thanks to him I grasped more.
 
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  • #37
Edward Wij said:
The link includes words like Linear Algebra in Dirac Notation. How do you expect us who know only how to add, subtract, multiply divide to comprehend them.

Some things can be explained in English, but physics is written in the language of math, and you soon run into where it must be used. You have ventured into an area that only can be explained in math. Or at least I can't explain it without math.

1. is basically correct. 2. is wrong and 3. is partially correct.

Thanks
Bill
 
  • #38
Edward Wij said:
The link includes words like Linear Algebra in Dirac Notation. How do you expect us who know only how to add, subtract, multiply divide to comprehend them.
Hope others would give other easier reference with mostly verbal summaries..

I understand why you want a mostly verbal summary, but you're posing questions that cannot be answered without more powerful tools than that.

You're understand adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing... But how would you explain these concepts to someone who wanted "a verbal summary" that didn't require knowing about numbers and counting?
 
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  • #39
There is no other way to understand quantum theory than to learn the appropriate language in which it can be formulated, and this is the language of (rigged) Hilbert spaces. It is impossible to understand quantum theory otherwise. The reason is simple: We are used to experience with macroscopic bodies, and these behave according to classical physics, which in fact is understood nowadays as an effective description following from the quantum behavior of interacting many-body systems.
 
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