Is superposition in quantum mechanics physical or philosophical?
v. 4 n. 29
NOTICE addition of "Introductory" as the first reference (Sep 29, 2023)
Problem statement from Wikipedia: Interpretation of quantum mechanics: How does the quantum description of reality, which includes elements such as the superposition of states and wavefunction collapse or quantum decoherence, give rise to the reality we perceive?[42] Another way of stating this question regards the measurement problem: What constitutes a "measurement" which apparently causes the wave function to collapse into a definite state? Unlike classical physical processes, some quantum mechanical processes (such as quantum teleportation arising from quantum entanglement) cannot be simultaneously "local", "causal", and "real", but it is not obvious which of these properties must be sacrificed,[93] or if an attempt to describe quantum mechanical processes in these senses is a category error such that a proper understanding of quantum mechanics would render the question meaningless. Can the many worlds interpretation resolve it? *
The physicality of quantum mechanics was addressed earlier in various articles, ** but the present topic of "interpretation of quantum mechanics" is more in the philosophy of physics category, that has also served as story lines for science fiction novels, but nonetheless compelling to serious inquiry if only to ensure that physics at the smallest scales has a firm connection to the more human scale and understanding.
As to superposition of quantum states (until a measurement is made), a measurement is made with an object that is projected into the quantum world. This object can be hand-held by a person or be a programmed device. Between this measuring object and the quantum world is space, in which are virtual particles, coming into and out of existence at varying rates depending on the energy of the particles, which is between some 10^-100 and 10^-10 ergs. It is desired to record the spin of a photon, for instance, which may be up or down, and conventionally said to be both before measurement. But this photon just about to enter the measuring apparatus is not the same photon that left the photon source if light is transported by virtual photons between source and apparatus, as discussed.
When the energy transfers from the real photon carrying the energy quantum to the virtual photon just coming into existence having sufficiently long lifetime to absorb this much energy, the spin of the new energy carrier will likely be oppositely directed (see Figure 1).
There will be enumerable such energy/spin transfers between light source and measuring apparatus, considering the small (immeasurable) size of virtual particles, and even though each step in the transfer is one spin or the other, it is not both at the same time. When the measurement is finally made, there will be a spin up or spin down, but the interval between up and down is so small that no real fixed positioning of the distance between source and apparatus will be practical, for instance, because of the slight temperature difference between the source and apparatus, or Brownian motion anywhere in the system, or other possible disturbances.
An approach to testing such a hypothesis might be to have as short a distance between source and measurement as possible, and to attach both to a beam with minimal sensitivity to temperature or other changes, in an evacuated environment as close as possible to absolute zero. Even then, it might not be possible to establish a rigid enough system to account for the size of a virtual particle in the quantum vacuum. Also disfavoring such an experiment is the likelihood that virtual photons will not have a uniform size, considering said possible energy interval, and that the path between source and apparatus would likely not be a mathematically straight line (recalling Feynman's all possible paths).
The answer to the question, though, is that there is no physical quantum superposition in this example if light is transferred by virtual particles in such a manner. This suggests quantum mechanics is closer to classical physics than any abstract philosophy might indicate.
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Introductory. (3) The measurement problem revisited* | LinkedIn
Includes causality: (1) Experiment to affirm the transport of light by virtual photons | LinkedIn
Includes probability in quantum mechanics: (1) Why is time in quantum mechanics Newtonian (but maybe not in the strictest sense)? | LinkedIn
Particle as absence instead of presence, and this focal point is not a wavefunction, probability nor superposition? (1) The measurement problem and particles as sinks | LinkedIn
Investigador cientifico
1 年?Y si todas las partículas en realidad fuesen una sola en un estado de superposición de múltiples dimensiones incluida el espacio y el tiempo? Esto explicaría por qué con un reducido conjunto de partículas todas las del universo que son muchas comparten propiedades y características.
?IDEK: ?ivot i dobro est kako: Rozvoj vedomia je ukryty v my?lienkach tvorby ?ivota v súlade s láskou.
1 年If thought is what carries fine matter and creates our particular surrounding universe, the philosophy of physics originating from thoughts that come to people from space is truth, the edges of which are eroded by the reality around us. A few years ago, I knew nothing about quantum mechanics or superposition. Through the numbers I have come to my various truths which are based on understanding what is hidden behind the numbers. And wonder of the world, the view of the Great Pyramid from above coincided with the Minkowski space-time diagram of the special theory of relativity. Here I found that my half-lines of the photon from my theory of the "evolving spiral of life" and time coincide with the diagram mentioned. And is the superposition real? On the linear part of the photon half-lines, this superposition works in places where the properties of energies and information are stabilized during the initial creation of matter. If there was no superposition, there would be no people in the material body.
Why not both depending on the situation?