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My thoughts on and your responses to interesting topics in the Physical Sciences

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Category: Quantum Mechanics

A story of commutators

Posted on October 21, 2020October 22, 2020 By Simply Curious No Comments on A story of commutators
A story of commutators
Particle Physics, Quantum Mechanics

The conceptual step that took humans from their pre-conceived “classical” notions of the world to the “quantum” notion was the realization that measurements don’t commute. This means, as an example, that if you measure the position of a particle exactly, you cannot simultaneously ascribe to it an infinitely precise momentum. This is not simply a … Read More “A story of commutators” »

Schrodinger’s Cat Lives again!

Posted on November 27, 2019October 23, 2020 By Simply Curious No Comments on Schrodinger’s Cat Lives again!
Schrodinger’s Cat Lives again!
Quantum Mechanics

This article concerns a new paper I just submitted. It concerns a peculiar feature of quantum mechanics (and also of classical mechanics). The feature is this. The Laws of Physics appear indifferent to the direction of time. If you play a video of two balls colliding elastically with each other, you could play the video … Read More “Schrodinger’s Cat Lives again!” »

Error Correcting Codes and the Quantum version

Posted on February 6, 2019February 7, 2019 By Simply Curious No Comments on Error Correcting Codes and the Quantum version
Quantum Mechanics

This article was inspired by a very nice article in Quanta magazine (by Natalie Wolchover) about the connection between error-correction codes and space-time. I thought the quantum mechanics concepts were glossed over, so decided to expand on it a little. Electrical engineers and digital-signal-processing engineers study error correction for a simple reason – the same … Read More “Error Correcting Codes and the Quantum version” »

Schrodinger’s Zoo

Posted on February 22, 2018February 22, 2018 By Simply Curious No Comments on Schrodinger’s Zoo
Schrodinger’s Zoo
Quantum Mechanics

I have been enjoying reading Richard Muller’s “Now: The Physics of Time” – Muller is an extremely imaginative experimental physicist and his writings on the “arrow of time” are quite a nice compendium of the various proposed solutions. Even though none of those solutions is to my liking, they are certainly worth a read. Meanwhile, … Read More “Schrodinger’s Zoo” »

Master Traders and Bayes’ theorem

Posted on August 13, 2017August 14, 2017 By Simply Curious 1 Comment on Master Traders and Bayes’ theorem
Master Traders and Bayes’ theorem
Finance, Quantum Mechanics, Statistical Mechanics

Imagine you were walking around in Manhattan and you chanced upon an interesting game going on at the side of the road. By the way, when you see these games going on, a safe strategy is to walk on, since they usually reduce to methods of separating a lot of money from you in various … Read More “Master Traders and Bayes’ theorem” »

Special Relativity; Or how I learned to relax and love the Anti-Particle

Posted on July 29, 2017October 29, 2017 By Simply Curious 3 Comments on Special Relativity; Or how I learned to relax and love the Anti-Particle
Special Relativity; Or how I learned to relax and love the Anti-Particle
Particle Physics, Quantum Mechanics

The Special Theory of Relativity, which is the name for the set of ideas that Einstein proposed in 1905 in a paper titled “On the Electrodynamics of moving bodies”, starts with the premise that the Laws of Physics are the same for all observers that are traveling at uniform speeds relative to each other. One … Read More “Special Relativity; Or how I learned to relax and love the Anti-Particle” »

Can a quantum particle come to a fork in the road and take it?

Posted on July 27, 2017July 28, 2017 By Simply Curious 2 Comments on Can a quantum particle come to a fork in the road and take it?
Quantum Mechanics

I have always been fascinated by the weirdness of the Universe. One aspect of the weirdness is the quantum nature of things – others relate to the mysteries of Lorentz invariance, Special Relativity, the General Theory of Relativity, the extreme size and age of the Universe, the vast amount of stuff we don't seem to … Read More “Can a quantum particle come to a fork in the road and take it?” »

Here’s an alternative history of how quantum mechanics came about…

Posted on July 19, 2017July 19, 2017 By Simply Curious No Comments on Here’s an alternative history of how quantum mechanics came about…
Quantum Mechanics

Quantum Mechanics was the result of analysis of experiments that explored the emission and absorption spectra of various atoms and molecules. Once the electron and proton were discovered, very soon after the discovery of radioactivity, it was theorized that the atom was an electrically neutral combination of protons and electrons. Since it isn’t possible for … Read More “Here’s an alternative history of how quantum mechanics came about…” »

A young Einstein at his desk, contemplating the world with his mind!

My Recent Posts

  • A story of commutators October 21, 2020
  • Schrodinger’s Cat Lives again! November 27, 2019
  • Three pieces – and some puzzles September 9, 2019
  • Tales of Karatsuba May 14, 2019
  • Error Correcting Codes and the Quantum version February 6, 2019
  • Modulo arithmetic & cards November 13, 2018
  • Gauge invariance, Global and Local Symmetry October 17, 2018
  • Binary/Ternary codes and card tricks October 14, 2018
  • p-‘s and q-‘s redux October 14, 2018
  • Minding your p-‘s and q-‘s October 13, 2018
  • Math, Rhythmic patterns & A Card Trick September 30, 2018
  • Of Baby Hummers and clock arithmetic with Aryabhata and Archimedes September 15, 2018
  • Gedankenexperiments #1 August 8, 2018
  • The Indian musical drums June 24, 2018
  • The Rule of 72 – and what does the Swiss National Bank have to do with it June 21, 2018

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