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Quantum Physics For Dummies, Revised Edition
book

Quantum Physics For Dummies, Revised Edition

by Steve Holzner
January 2013
Beginner to intermediate content levelBeginner to intermediate
336 pages
5h 35m
English
For Dummies
Content preview from Quantum Physics For Dummies, Revised Edition

Chapter 2

Entering the Matrix: Welcome to State Vectors

In This Chapter

arrow Creating state vectors

arrow Using Dirac notation for state vectors

arrow Working with bras and kets

arrow Understanding matrix mechanics

arrow Getting to wave mechanics

Quantum physics isn’t just about playing around with your particle accelerator while trying not to destroy the universe. Sometimes, you get to do things that are a little more mundane, like turn lights off and on, perform a bit of calculus, or play with dice.

If you’re actually doing physics with those dice (beyond hurling them across the room), the lab director won’t even get mad at you. In quantum physics, absolute measurements are replaced by probabilities, so you may use dice to calculate the probabilities that various numbers will come up. You can then assemble those values into a vector (single-column matrix) in Hilbert space (a type of infinitely dimensional vector space with some properties that are especially valuable in quantum physics).

This chapter introduces ...

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Quantum Physics For Dummies, Revised Edition

Quantum Physics For Dummies, Revised Edition

Steven Holzner

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9781118460863Purchase book