PIRSA:10120055

Protective Measurement and the Interpretation of the Wave Function

APA

(2010). Protective Measurement and the Interpretation of the Wave Function. Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. https://pirsa.org/10120055

MLA

Protective Measurement and the Interpretation of the Wave Function. Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Dec. 01, 2010, https://pirsa.org/10120055

BibTex

          @misc{ scivideos_PIRSA:10120055,
            doi = {10.48660/10120055},
            url = {https://pirsa.org/10120055},
            author = {},
            keywords = {Quantum Foundations},
            language = {en},
            title = {Protective Measurement and the Interpretation of the Wave Function},
            publisher = {Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics},
            year = {2010},
            month = {dec},
            note = {PIRSA:10120055 see, \url{https://scivideos.org/index.php/pirsa/10120055}}
          }
          
Talk numberPIRSA:10120055
Source RepositoryPIRSA
Talk Type Conference
Subject

Abstract

Shan Gao We investigate the validity of the field explanation of the wave function by analyzing the mass and charge density distributions of a quantum system. According to protective measurement, a charged quantum system has effective mass and charge density distributed in space, proportional to the square of the absolute value of its wave function. If the wave function is a description of a physical field, then the mass and charge density will be distributed in space simultaneously for a charged quantum system, and thus there will exist a remarkable electrostatic self-interaction of its wave function, though the gravitational self-interaction is too weak to be detected presently. This not only violates the superposition principle of quantum mechanics but also contradicts experimental observations.