Apur-phy.296
net.misc
utzoo!decvax!pur-ee!purdue!pur-phy!retief
Thu Apr 29 12:32:00 1982
Re: psi vs relativity vs quantum mechanics
I hate to pop bubbles, but we should clear a few things up here.
First of all, an electrons wavefunction Does extend to infinity, but
it's value must go to zero at infinity in order that there be only ONE
electron.
Actually, we can remedy this simply by rewording the problem.
There is a source that is made to radiate ONE electron outward, but
we don't know in which direction. Two observers are each a distance
of 1 lightyear from the source, but in opposite directions.
Because the wavefunction is uniformly spherical each observer, A & B,
is equally likely to see the electron.
THE QUESTION. Is it possible that both A and B can observe the electron
since neither can alert the other fast enough to bias themselves?
Beats the hell outta me! And it deserves hard thought.
I suspect that since we are really talking about probabilties (and
not hard electrons) that the question is just one of those paradoxes
that often arise when physics doesn't make INTUITIVE sense (like in
special relativity.)
-- Dwight Bartholomew --
ps- its a bit of a copout.
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