Uncertainty principle questions.

dswatson
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Does the uncertainty principle apply to nature itself or only to the results of experiments? That is, is it the position and momentum that are really uncertain, or merely our knowledge of them? Does it make any difference?
 
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Nature itself has decided that there is no state in which both position and momentum of a a particle are sharply defined.
 
Thread 'Need help understanding this figure on energy levels'

Thread 'Need help understanding this figure on energy levels'

This figure is from "Introduction to Quantum Mechanics" by Griffiths (3rd edition). It is available to download. It is from page 142. I am hoping the usual people on this site will give me a hand understanding what is going on in the figure. After the equation (4.50) it says "It is customary to introduce the principal quantum number, ##n##, which simply orders the allowed energies, starting with 1 for the ground state. (see the figure)" I still don't understand the figure :( Here is...
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Thread 'Understanding how to "tack on" the time wiggle factor'

Thread 'Understanding how to "tack on" the time wiggle factor'

The last problem I posted on QM made it into advanced homework help, that is why I am putting it here. I am sorry for any hassle imposed on the moderators by myself. Part (a) is quite easy. We get $$\sigma_1 = 2\lambda, \mathbf{v}_1 = \begin{pmatrix} 0 \\ 0 \\ 1 \end{pmatrix} \sigma_2 = \lambda, \mathbf{v}_2 = \begin{pmatrix} 1/\sqrt{2} \\ 1/\sqrt{2} \\ 0 \end{pmatrix} \sigma_3 = -\lambda, \mathbf{v}_3 = \begin{pmatrix} 1/\sqrt{2} \\ -1/\sqrt{2} \\ 0 \end{pmatrix} $$ There are two ways...
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