Wave Collapse and Degenerate States - A Quick Question

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SUMMARY

The discussion focuses on the behavior of quantum particles during measurements of observables, specifically addressing the concepts of wave function collapse and degeneracy. When measuring a non-degenerate state, the wave function collapses to that specific state. However, if a subsequent measurement yields a non-degenerate state again, the wave function typically collapses to a superposition of all states sharing the same eigenvalue, contingent on the measurement procedure's specifics. This highlights the nuanced nature of quantum mechanics and the implications of measurement on particle states.

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BAnders1
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Let's say you have some quantum particle whose eigenvalues for some observable Q are either degenerate or non-degenerate. If you measure the observable and find it to be in a non-degenerate state, then you know that the wave function has collapsed onto this state. Now if you measure the observable and find it to be in a non-degenerate state, does this mean that the particle's wave function has collapsed to a superposition of all states sharing this eigenvalue? My answer before writing this was "I have no idea," but my answer afterwords was "Of course it does." I'd still like to see if my latter answer was wrong, because that would mean something interesting is going on.
 
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It depends on details of the measurement procedure, but typically yes, it collapses to a superposition.
 

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