Quantum Physics versus Classical Physics

1
Quantum Physics versus Classical Physics

• In the macroscopic world, events appear to be
  deterministic and every event has a cause
• In the quantum world, probabilities are not a
  substitute for detailed knowledge of hidden,
  relevant details there are no relevant details,
  just pure chance
• The classical world is determinism, the quantum
  world is pure probabilism
• The probabilism nature to quantum physics has
  been confirmed by numerous experiments

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Quantum Physics versus Classical Physics

• In classical physics, it is only ignorance of the
  initial conditions and the difficulty of doing
  the calculations that makes the outcome appear to
  be random
• In quantum physics, the randomness is asserted to
  be absolutely fundamental
• Quantum physics says that, though one nucleus
  decayed and the other did not, they were
  previously in the identical state

3
Quantum Physics versus Classical Physics

• Classical physics is reductionist
• Quantum physics is holistic, entities have
  emergent properties
• Things like position and energy simply do not
  exist until they are measured or observed (i.e.
  until the wave function collapses)
• Quantum entities have a whole that is greater
  than the sum of its parts, i.e., nothing can ever
  be wholly reduced to the sum of its constituent
  parts

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Quantum Physics versus Classical Physics
5
Holism
6
Quantum Interpretation

• One must resist the temptation to regard matter
  or photon waves as waves of some material
  substance like sound or water waves, the waves
  are measures of probability
• Identical electrons in identical experiments may
  do different things, but statistically, the
  outcome of the experiment is predictable

7
Copenhagen Interpretation

• The wave function is a complete description of a
  wave/particle. Any information that cannot be
  derived from the wave function does not exist
• When a measurement of the wave/particle is made,
  its wave function collapses
• If two properties are related by an uncertainty
  relation, no measurement can simultaneously
  determine both properties to a precision greater
  than the uncertainty relation allows

8
Copenhagen Interpretation

• Central to the Copenhagen Interpretation is the
  principle known as complementarity
• The wave and particle nature of objects can be
  regarded as complementary aspects of a single
  reality, like the two sides of a coin

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Hidden Variables Hypothesis
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Many-Worlds Hypothesis