- #1
hydrojet2005
- 2
- 0
this is a question that has been bugging me from the beginning of my learning of quantum mechanics. why does the the wavefunction collapse when we do a measurement?
since we have no concrete idea about collapse, we use probability theory to understand quantum phenomenon. but at least from classical framework, we use probability when we don't know the full picture. in some sense we can call probability the 'mathematics of our ignorance'.
now bell has proved that no hidden variable theory of quantum mechanics is not possible. and because of that it seems that the it is impossible to understand the dynamics of collapse.
but why not? i may not be able to predict that at a particular measurement which eigenvalue shall i get, but can't i predict that given a specific type of measurement, that is understanding of all the parameters involved, we should be able to tell for which parameters which eigenvalue shall i get. i may not be able to control the parameters and hence we shall still need the framework of quantum mechanics, but is this proposition impossible?
in this respect i remember the famous comment of einstein - 'god doesn't play dice with the world'. but then even dice has some rules, some mechanics, some dynamics.
since we have no concrete idea about collapse, we use probability theory to understand quantum phenomenon. but at least from classical framework, we use probability when we don't know the full picture. in some sense we can call probability the 'mathematics of our ignorance'.
now bell has proved that no hidden variable theory of quantum mechanics is not possible. and because of that it seems that the it is impossible to understand the dynamics of collapse.
but why not? i may not be able to predict that at a particular measurement which eigenvalue shall i get, but can't i predict that given a specific type of measurement, that is understanding of all the parameters involved, we should be able to tell for which parameters which eigenvalue shall i get. i may not be able to control the parameters and hence we shall still need the framework of quantum mechanics, but is this proposition impossible?
in this respect i remember the famous comment of einstein - 'god doesn't play dice with the world'. but then even dice has some rules, some mechanics, some dynamics.