braddelong.substack.com/p/sydney-colem…
I used to think that I would—someday—understand why Stern-Gerlach magnets arranged along the x-axis would knock an electron that was in the <↑| state in the z-basis into the z-basis <↓|. And I used to think I would—someday—understand why if we... 1/
I used to think that I would—someday—understand why Stern-Gerlach magnets arranged along the x-axis would knock an electron that was in the <↑| state in the z-basis into the z-basis <↓|. And I used to think I would—someday—understand why if we... 1/
rotated the magnets into the y-direction the little square-root-of-minus-one i’s would start appearing in the math…
Now I know that it is hopeless.
And, similarly, it is hopeless to ask why the triple measurement σ(1x)σ(2y)σ(3z) applied to the three electrons 1, 2, & 3... 2/
Now I know that it is hopeless.
And, similarly, it is hopeless to ask why the triple measurement σ(1x)σ(2y)σ(3z) applied to the three electrons 1, 2, & 3... 2/
that are in Coleman’s entangled (<↑↑↑| - <↓↓↓|) state always produce the answer +1.
It is the Pauli matrices that are the underlying reality—or, at least, are our only through-a-glass-darkly shadowy and illusory simulacrum of understanding. They are not the things... 3/
It is the Pauli matrices that are the underlying reality—or, at least, are our only through-a-glass-darkly shadowy and illusory simulacrum of understanding. They are not the things... 3/
that can be explained in terms of more fundamental principles. They are, rather, our feeble monkey-brain grasp of what the fundamental data are.
All of which is to say that Sydney Coleman’s Quantum Mechanics in Your Face lecture—the title of which, I am told in good... 4/
All of which is to say that Sydney Coleman’s Quantum Mechanics in Your Face lecture—the title of which, I am told in good... 4/
authority, is incomprehensible to Britishers, save that they suspect and fear that it is in some way obscene—is the best thing on the interpretation of quantum mechanics I have seen. Plus BRIEFLY NOTED: for 2021-03-17 5/END
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