Why the “Wave” in Quantum Physics Isn’t Real

Comments · 1.5K

• TH

  @TheoriesofEverything · 1 year ago · pinned

  Main episode with Jacob Barandes: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrUvtqr4wOs&amp;list=PLZ7ikzmc6zlN6E8KrxcYCWQIHg2tfkqvR">https://youtu.be/wrUvtqr4wOs?list=PLZ7ikzmc6zlN6E8KrxcYCWQIHg2tfkqvR</a>

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• RE

  @redberries8039 · 1 year ago

  The bit i understood was when he was asked &apos;Have you done it?&apos; and he said &apos;No. I haven&apos;t had the time&apos; but in a really complicated way.

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• PE

  @PetrasUola · 1 year ago (edited)

  It gets physical when you use the wavelength to describe the orbitals of an atom, as de Broglie did—somehow, the &quot;wave&quot; character of an electron helps define the state of matter. And the collapse is not needed to achieve this. But on the other hand, the wave function only shares mathematical similarities with classical wave equations. It&apos;s reasonable to say that the wave function defines physical reality, at least in the absence of measurement. As long as there is no interaction, the system remains in the state described by the wave function. This view is supported by several interpretations of quantum mechanics, such as Many-Worlds and Bohmian mechanics, where the wave function is seen as an ontic entity. Measurement, however, requires interaction—typically with another fermion, since fermions can encode distinct outcomes and leave a record. But even upon such fermionic interaction—such as an electron scattering off a He⁺ ion—we never obtain a complete description of the system. Due to the uncertainty principle, the position and momentum of the particles involved cannot both be precisely known. The only occasion where we approach a &quot;full&quot; description is when an electron interacts with a macroscopic screen. Yet even then, it&apos;s important to note that we, as observers, are not independent: we have already interacted with the screen countless times via light and other forces. In that sense, we and the screen are already part of the same entangled system. Measurement thus becomes not a clean boundary, but a continuous process of entanglement and decoherence within a larger, inseparable whole.

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• MA

  @MaxRoaldEckardt · 1 year ago

  formalizing quantum field theory is like using functional programming to develop a game engine without using constants.

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• PL

  @pleasethink4789 · 1 year ago

  This is such an important clarification. The two wave types are often confluated when one drills down into their understanding of waves in the context of quantum mechanics.

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• TE

  @Teddy.Wilding · 1 year ago

  I was about to publish my thesis until I watched your interviews with Jacob. I have since gone back and completely restructured a decade of work as a consequence, for the better. Thank you!

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• GO

  @gordonelliott7870 · 1 year ago

  &quot;Fields&quot; (as in classical electrodynamics) is in the end just an assembly of a very large number of quanta (photons) that are coordinated in some way. There is a correspondence principle that will show the wave-like behavior of the classical field theory in the limit of a lot of photons in the configuration of the supposed &quot;field&quot;.

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• KU

  @KungenErs · 4 months ago

  Jacob Barandes is probably the best person I&apos;ve ever heard that explains these things in a way that is easy to understand.

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• JA

  @jasonto-s5r · 1 year ago

  I have to set the speed to 0.5 to hear this guy talk

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• SA

  @sarahdavilio2575 · 1 year ago

  &quot;it is something else which I am not gonna discuss now but.......&quot;.

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• 5T

  @5thHouse · 1 year ago

  Beautiful. Just wonderful to see this. Good call here. You never see this mentioned in mainstream coverage of double slit.

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• SH

  @ShawnHCorey · 1 year ago

  The wave function is a probability distribution. It is like when you flip a coin, the probability of it coming up heads in 50%. But the probability is not a physical thing. It is a math thing that describes what might happen. And after the coin is flipped, it is no longer relevant. Saying it collapses just confuses people. It simply is no longer relevant.

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