Wave function collapse: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 10:17, 29 October 2024

Revision as of 16:20, 29 October 2024

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==History==

The concept of wavefunction collapse was introduced by [[Werner Heisenberg]] in his 1927 paper on the [[uncertainty principle]], "Über den anschaulichen Inhalt der quantentheoretischen Kinematik und Mechanik", and incorporated into the [[mathematical formulation of quantum mechanics]] by [[John von Neumann]], in his 1932 treatise ''Mathematische Grundlagen der Quantenmechanik''.<ref>{{cite arXiv |author=C. Kiefer |year=2002 |title=On the interpretation of quantum theory—from Copenhagen to the present day |eprint=quant-ph/0210152 }}</ref> Heisenberg did not try to specify exactly what the collapse of the wavefunction meant. However, he emphasized that it should not be understood as a physical process.<ref>{{cite journal |author=G. Jaeger |year=2017 |title="Wave-Packet Reduction" and the Quantum Character of the Actualization of Potentia |journal=Entropy |volume=19 |issue=10 |pages=13

|doi=10.3390/e19100513|bibcode=2017Entrp..19..513J |doi-access=free }}</ref> Niels Bohr alsonever mentions wave function collapse in his published work, but he repeatedly cautioned that we must give up a "pictorial representation", and perhaps also interpreted collapse as a formal, not physical, process.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Niels Bohr on the wave function and the classical/quantum divide |author=Henrik Zinkernagel |year=2016 |doi=10.1016/j.shpsb.2015.11.001 |journal=Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics |volume=53 |pages=9–19 |arxiv = 1603.00353|bibcode=2016SHPMP..53....9Z |s2cid=18890207 |quote=WeAmong canBohr thusscholars sayit that,is forcommon Bohr,to theassert collapsethat isBohr notnever physical inmentions the sensewave offunction a physical wavecollapse (orsee somethinge.g. else)Howard, collapsing2004 atand aFaye, point2008). But itIt is atrue description –that in factBohr’s thepublished bestwritings, orhe mostdoes complete,not descriptiondiscuss –the ofstatus somethingor happening,existence namelyof thethis formationstandard ofcomponent ain measurementthe recordpopular (e.g.image aof dotthe onCopenhagen ainterpretation. photographic plate).}}</ref>

The "Copenhagen" model espoused by Heisenberg and Bohr separated the quantum system from the classical measurement apparatus. In 1932