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usonian

(17,861 posts)
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 01:46 AM Feb 2025

Why even physicists still don't understand quantum theory 100 years on

Quantum mechanics depicts a counter-intuitive reality in which the act of observation influences what is observed — and few can agree on what that means.

By Sean Carroll

And I tunneled through a paywall. Faster than Buckaroo Banzai across the 8th dimension!

Nature.
https://archive.ph/EMw8E

So much here, but this gives a flavor of the article. (Not a pun)


So, physicists don’t agree on what precisely a measurement is, whether wavefunctions represent physical reality, whether there are physical variables in addition to the wavefunction or whether the wavefunction always obeys the Schrödinger equation. Despite all this, modern quantum mechanics has given us some of the most precisely tested predictions in all of science, with agreement between theory and experiment stretching to many decimal places.


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Why even physicists still don't understand quantum theory 100 years on (Original Post) usonian Feb 2025 OP
I think dedicated psychonauts understand it better..... alittlelark Feb 2025 #1
After 400 pages of linear algebra and the wave equation Klarkashton Feb 2025 #2
A math professor once told me the reason mathematicians don't do arithmetic LearnedHand Feb 2025 #5
Usually it's the simplest mathematical models that have exact solutions. BadgerKid Feb 2025 #6
Somehow we have reached the age of quantum stupidity Blue Owl Feb 2025 #3
Are you saying that something can't be real if we don't understand it? usonian Feb 2025 #4
As I Understand It... ProfessorGAC Feb 2025 #7

Klarkashton

(3,381 posts)
2. After 400 pages of linear algebra and the wave equation
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 01:54 AM
Feb 2025

They can't get past the hydrogen atom.

What am I missing?

LearnedHand

(4,701 posts)
5. A math professor once told me the reason mathematicians don't do arithmetic
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 02:23 AM
Feb 2025

Is because it's too hard. I wonder if a similar principle is at work here with the hydrogen atom?

BadgerKid

(4,834 posts)
6. Usually it's the simplest mathematical models that have exact solutions.
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 06:33 AM
Feb 2025

Models in general are intended to be an approximation of reality. It turns out that to go beyond hydrogen you basically smooth together multiple hydrogen models and use computers to generate a numerical solution.

Blue Owl

(56,304 posts)
3. Somehow we have reached the age of quantum stupidity
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 01:59 AM
Feb 2025

Nobody understands it and it can’t be real….

usonian

(17,861 posts)
4. Are you saying that something can't be real if we don't understand it?
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 02:10 AM
Feb 2025

Or did I misinterpret you?
No matter (pun unintended)

I stopped taking physics courses first (and last) year of grad school. My math skills fell off a cliff.

I later got into classical optics and electronics. My connection with physics returned as a staff person for the Berkeley physics department. No equations were solved in my work. ⚛️


ProfessorGAC

(72,811 posts)
7. As I Understand It...
Tue Feb 4, 2025, 05:34 PM
Feb 2025

...it's more a matter of being able to real, just that we can't absolutely prove it.
It's real to us, but that's not necessarily accurate. Might be, might not.

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