A Erwin Schrödinger (1887-1961) disliked much abstraction, preferring to develop mechanics through concepts more real. left the Louis de Broglie theory , which could be considered the particles as waves. If this was his behavior (at least one of them), then that system must be mathematically described by equations for waves. By developing
mathematician Joseph Fourier (1768-1830) , it is known that any function can be described as an infinite combination of sine and cosine are precisely describing simple waves. Thus, a system and its evolution is described by a sum of waves. The mechanics of Schrödinger wave mechanics is named, and summarized in a single partial differential equation, the equation of time-dependent Schrödinger:
(simplified version, where And is the wave function describing the system, and V (x) is the potential energy of the system. The equation can be generalized to the 3-dimensional space, using Cartesian geometry, cylindrical or spherical)
But what does this equation?
mechanics is to find the evolution of a system, based on the factors that affect it. Newtonian mechanics is to find the path in the space of a mobile, knowing how some forces act through the three laws of Newton.
William Hamilton (1805-1865) developed a mechanical equivalent from different concepts. Instead of dealing with the intuitive concept of force (a force a change in the movement of a particle, an acceleration ), used the more abstract and general energy. A system has a kinetic energy due to their movement. When nothing interacts with the system, that is their only power. However, when yes there is an interaction, there is an exchange of energy through a potential energy . This exchange is what produces the forces in Newton's description.
Hamilton mechanics first determines which is the total energy of system: the sum of kinetic energy and potential. This amount is given a name: the Hamiltonian . To find the path makes use of a general principle of physics: the principle of least action , by which the evolution of a system will be such that its total energy is the minimum possible . Of all the possible paths that may have a phone, make one that minimize their energy.
The Schrödinger wave equation following the same philosophy. The first term on the left side of the equation represents the kinetic energy, while the second the potential energy is the Hamiltonian, but in quantum version.
When a system does not depend on time, is a stationary system, and the equation to solve is it called Schrödinger equation independent of time.
While Hamilton's classical mechanics try to find the function And as to the value of E minimal, quantum mechanics is to calculate all the functions And n with corresponding energy E n , since according to the approach taken by de Broglie and Schrödinger, and thanks to Fourier's mathematical development, the overall description of the system is a combination of all these wave functions, each with its own energy.
operators
If we see the Schrödinger equation independent of time, mathematically it is a problem known as eigenvalues \u200b\u200b , and had already developed Fourier: the solution to the equation are all of these functions (called eigenfunctions ) And 1 , And 2 , And 3 ... such that when subjected to a series of operations , is a number of times 1 E, E 2 , E 3 ... ( eigenvalue or eigenvalue ) the same function And 1 , And 2 , And 3 ... Only those functions are valid, and comprehensive solution is a sum of all the eigenfunctions.
Thus, we must talk about operators. Schrödinger equation, we have said that represents the quantum version of Hamiltonian H , an amount that contains the sum of kinetic and potential energy:
If we assimilate the classical and quantum expressions of the Hamiltonian, then we must identify the linear momentum p with operator acting on the wave function by calculating its derivative. The potential energy, a function of position x would be a operator that multiplies the expression V (x) by the wave function.
The physical meaning of the operators is to calculate a magnitude observable in a measurement process. More specifically, given a wave function And , the sum of several eigenfunctions ( And = A And 1 + B 2 And + C And 3 ... ) , the result is actually the probability that the measure corresponds to a system in the state And 1 , And 2, or 3 And ... For example, the Hamiltonian operator H , observable results in total system energy E n , each of the possible states and the probability measure such value.
The wave function thus represents a likely respect to the state it is the system and a measure of the system reveals one and only one of these states, with a certain probability.
This is one of the most important pillars for the interpretation of quantum mechanics, before the measurement process, system status is not defined, but there is a chance that after making a measurement, the measurement result is one in particular. However, after being measured, the system remains in that particular state. For a system since it is not possible to determine which state will be revealed in a measurement process. However, it can determine the probability that the result appears.
vs matrix mechanics wave mechanics
An important outcome of the matrix mechanics Heisenbserg was the uncertainty principle that appeared during the measurement process. The order in which measurements are made varies the result, so that if you measure position and momentum, the amount [x • p - p • x] is nonzero (and in particular, a complex number .) This result suggested the need to use matrices representing x and p , since matrix multiplication is not commutative.
now developed with the operators x and the difference p xp - px applied to a wave function Y .
These operators therefore have no commutative property, but there is a distinct difference from zero, and equal to that obtained by Heisenberg. This coincidence therefore suggested that treatment operators is equivalent to treatment with matrices. In fact, the elements that form matrices can be calculated from the operators and wave functions.
The equivalence between two descriptions of quantum mechanics showed the British Paul Dirac (1902-1984) in 1925