Quantum Measurements

Common Sense Is Not Enough, Physicists Show. In comparison to classical physics, quantum physics predicts that the properties of a quantum mechanical system depend on the measurement context, i.e. whether or not other system measurements are carried out.

Friday, July 31, 2009

Common Sense Is Not Enough, Physicists Show.

In comparison to classical physics, quantum physics predicts that the properties of a quantum mechanical system depend on the measurement context, i.e. whether or not other system measurements are carried out.

A team of physicists from Innsbruck, Austria, led by Christian Roos and Rainer Blatt, have for the first time proven in a comprehensive experiment that it is not possible to explain quantum phenomena in non-contextual terms.

Quantum mechanics describes the physical state of light and matter and formulates concepts that totally contradict the classical conception we have of nature.

Thus, physicists have tried to explain non-causal phenomena in quantum mechanics by classical models of hidden variables, thereby excluding randomness, which is omnipresent in quantum theory.

BBC