- "Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles."
A primer on the principles of quantum mechanics, including wave-particle duality, operators and observables, and the Schrodinger equation.
Classical mechanics: This covers the basics of motion and how it is described by classical physics.
Special relativity: This covers the relationship between space and time and how they are affected by high velocities.
Quantum mechanics: This is the foundation of the subject and covers the principles of wave-particle duality, probability, and uncertainty.
Quantum states: This covers how particles are described by mathematical functions called wavefunctions.
Operators: This covers the mathematical tools used to describe the properties of quantum states, including position, momentum, and energy.
Uncertainty: This covers the uncertainty principle, which states that the more accurately one property of a particle is measured, the less accurately another property can be measured.
Quantum entanglement: This covers the phenomenon in which two particles become correlated in such a way that their quantum states are no longer independent.
Quantum superposition: This covers the principle that a particle can exist in multiple states simultaneously.
Quantum tunneling: This covers the phenomenon in which a particle can pass through a barrier even if it does not have enough energy to pass over it.
Quantum measurement: This covers the process of observing a quantum system and the effects it has on the system being observed.
Quantum field theory: This covers the extension of quantum mechanics to fields, and the description of particles as excitations of those fields.
Feynman diagrams: This covers the graphical tool used to calculate quantum interactions between particles.
Standard Model: This covers the current theory that describes the interactions between fundamental particles in the universe.
Quantum gravity: This covers the ongoing effort to develop a theory that will unify quantum mechanics with general relativity and the nature of space and time itself.
Quantum computing: This covers the application of quantum mechanics to computer science, and the potential for vastly more powerful computers based on quantum principles.
Standard Model of particle physics: It is a quantum field theory that describes the elementary particles and three of the four known fundamental forces.
Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD): It is a quantum field theory that describes the strong nuclear force that holds quarks together to form protons and neutrons.
Quantum electrodynamics (QED): It is a quantum field theory that describes the behavior of the electromagnetic force, including interactions between charged particles and photons.
Quantum gravity: It is a theoretical framework that aims to reconcile quantum mechanics with general relativity by describing the behavior of gravity at the quantum level.
Supersymmetry: It is a proposed extension of the Standard Model that posits the existence of superpartners for every particle in the Standard Model.
String theory: It is a theoretical framework that proposes that fundamental particles are not point-like objects but tiny, vibrating strings, and that gravity arises from the interaction of these strings.
Topological quantum field theory (TQFT): It is a type of quantum field theory that studies the topological properties of materials and systems, such as the stability of quantum states under deformations.
- "It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, quantum field theory, quantum technology, and quantum information science."
- "Quantum mechanics differs from classical physics in that energy, momentum, angular momentum, and other quantities of a bound system are restricted to discrete values (quantization); objects have characteristics of both particles and waves (wave-particle duality); and there are limits to how accurately the value of a physical quantity can be predicted prior to its measurement, given a complete set of initial conditions (the uncertainty principle)."
- "Quantum mechanics arose gradually from theories to explain observations that could not be reconciled with classical physics, such as Max Planck's solution in 1900 to the black-body radiation problem, and the correspondence between energy and frequency in Albert Einstein's 1905 paper, which explained the photoelectric effect."
- "These early attempts to understand microscopic phenomena, now known as the 'old quantum theory,' led to the full development of quantum mechanics in the mid-1920s by Niels Bohr, Erwin Schrödinger, Werner Heisenberg, Max Born, Paul Dirac, and others."
- "In one of them, a mathematical entity called the wave function provides information, in the form of probability amplitudes, about what measurements of a particle's energy, momentum, and other physical properties may yield."
- "Objects have characteristics of both particles and waves (wave-particle duality)."
- "Most theories in classical physics can be derived from quantum mechanics as an approximation valid at large (macroscopic) scale."
- "Max Planck's solution in 1900 to the black-body radiation problem."
- "Albert Einstein's 1905 paper, which explained the photoelectric effect."
- "There are limits to how accurately the value of a physical quantity can be predicted prior to its measurement, given a complete set of initial conditions (the uncertainty principle)."
- "Quantum mechanics is the foundation of all quantum physics."
- "Energy, momentum, angular momentum, and other quantities of a bound system are restricted to discrete values (quantization)."
- "These early attempts to understand microscopic phenomena, now known as the 'old quantum theory.'"
- "Classical physics describes many aspects of nature at an ordinary (macroscopic) scale."
- "The modern theory is formulated in various specially developed mathematical formalisms."
- "Quantum mechanics provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles."
- "Quantum mechanics is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, quantum field theory, quantum technology, and quantum information science."
- "The wave function provides information, in the form of probability amplitudes, about what measurements of a particle's energy, momentum, and other physical properties may yield."
- "The old quantum theory led to the full development of quantum mechanics in the mid-1920s by Niels Bohr, Erwin Schrödinger, Werner Heisenberg, Max Born, Paul Dirac, and others."