The Path Not Taken
The quantum mechanical superposition state — the wave function — takes shape, and the rules for its deterministic evolution and probabilistic interpretation are developed. A clockwork macrocosm in which the Moon never wavers from its course gives way to a guesswork microcosm in which an electron follows no predetermined path at all. This leads to a quantum mechanical world in which the sharp values of position, velocity, momentum, energy, and all the other quantities of classical mechanics blur into the probability distributions of quantum mechanics.
Keywords: determinism, probability, quantum mechanics, superposition, wave function
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