Modern Physics for Engineers Lecture slides 08b – Waves and measurement

This lecture part discusses the subtle issues of quantum mechanical waves and measurement. Such waves may not themselves be measurable entities, and that resolves some of the apparent contradictions of quantum mechanics. This lecture part extends the discussion of quantum mechanical measurement. It discusses Born's hypothesis that is essentially that the modulus squared of the wavefunction (not the wavefunction itself) gives probabilities in measurement. This hypothesis is also generalized in quantum mechanics to give probabilities of other quantities after measurement. A brief discussion is also given of the measurement problem more generally - the notion that we may not be able to describe the measurement process using quantum mechanics - and some of the proposed solutions to this problem. (slides)