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| bio | website | marty-green.blogspot.com |
|---|---|---|
| location | Canada | |
| age | ||
| visits | member for | 2 years, 1 month |
| seen | May 17 at 18:53 | |
| stats | profile views | 337 |
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May 23 |
asked | Does decoherence explain all instances of wave function collapse? |
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May 23 |
comment |
Historical background of wave function collapse @Alex Thanks Alex for dealing with objections 1 and 4. Interesting paper. But re objection 2: these are not examples of wave function collapse: they are examples where collapse doesn't occur. They are nice examples but they're not what I asked for. I'm going to put up a new question where I ask for a specific mechanism to explain the flecks of silver on a photographic plate. I hope you'll check it out. |
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May 23 |
comment |
Historical background of wave function collapse I don't mean to be difficult, but since you ask: 1. I don't have access to Annalen; 2. I asked for specific examples of wave function collapse and I can't see any in your answer; 3. your examples don't seem to fit the category of cases that led people to develop the concept; 4. I don't really understand the examples referred to in the paper. On the positive side, you do seem to be arguing in favor of time evolution vs collapse, but it's not helpful because you don't explain a specific mechanism in any case. |
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May 23 |
comment |
Historical background of wave function collapse @Alex Before there was a wavefunction, there was the idea of the "Quantum Leap" which was a kind of precursor to the idea of wave function collapse. It applied to all kinds of things like the transition of an electron between energy levels in the hydrogen atom of the splitting of a beam of silver atoms into two paths in the Stern Gerlach experiment. These are not exactly "wave function collapse because there was no wave function back then. When Schroedinger invented the wave function these phenomena were instantly explainable as normal time evolution. |
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May 23 |
awarded | Supporter |
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May 23 |
answered | Quantum mechanics of thermal radiation |
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May 22 |
comment |
Historical background of wave function collapse @Jerry Your example is interesting but it is surely not one of the cases which led people to come up with the idea of wave function collapse in the first place. |
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May 22 |
comment |
Historical background of wave function collapse @Marek I guess I should ask you to explain to Jerry how decoherence explains the quantum Zeno effect. Seriously, this is the kind of answer that frustrates me because it deals only in generalities, where I have asked for specific examples. If decoherence explains everything, then how does the energy of light from a distant star get concentrated enought to reduce an atom of metallic silver on a photographic plate? |
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May 22 |
awarded | Commentator |
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May 22 |
comment |
Historical background of wave function collapse I'm sorry to say I don't find this answer helpful. |
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May 22 |
comment |
Historical background of wave function collapse @Peter Morgan It's not that important to me which way you go with it, whether you collapse the wave function or you go with Many Worlds: the experiments we are trying to explain are still the same experiments. I could have just as well asked "what were the phenomena that led people to come up with Many Worlds, or the Born rule...they're still the same phenomena aren't they? |
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May 22 |
asked | Historical background of wave function collapse |
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May 21 |
comment |
Measuring the spin of a single electron Perhaps there are two interpretations to this question. Are there experiments that can measure the magnitude of the electron spin? I suppose there are; it is not totally clear to me that Stern-Gerlach happens to be such an experiment. I vaguely suspect that it might only measure the ratio of magnetic moment to angular momentum, similar to experiments that measure the charge-to-mass ratio of the electron without measuring either charge or mass. As for measuring the actual spin, magnitude and direction, of a specific electron...I don't think so. |
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May 21 |
answered | Measuring the spin of a single electron |
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May 20 |
answered | On the nature of the collapse of the wave function |
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May 14 |
comment |
Phase Accumulation of Hankel-waves upon propagation OK, right. I guess what I called the Hankel function would actually have to be the Neumann function. |
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May 14 |
answered | Phase Accumulation of Hankel-waves upon propagation |
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May 14 |
answered | Doppler effect of sound waves |
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May 11 |
awarded | Revival |
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May 8 |
answered | How do molecules vibrate after collision? |
