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R. Barrett and P. P. Delsanto
distraught king approached one of his friends, Paolo Diracus,
who happened to be a very famous physicist, for advice.
The answer he received was indeed very helpful. Diracus
replied: “As you probably know, in this world, Heisenberg’s
Uncertainty Principle is valid, not just in the realm of physics, but
also in the field of economics.” King Neutrino nodded sagely,
although he understood little. Technical issues tended to put
him in a spin. The physicist continued: “And my experimentalist
friends tell me that lately some of the fundamental physical
constants have begun to fluctuate wildly in value. Indeed, h,
a constant named after my colleague, Maximus Planck, has
recently increased greatly. So perhaps you can borrow, free of
charge, the amount of money you need to buy the diamond,
provided that you only need to show it to Juliet’s father for a
very short time.” Pulling a pencil and an old bus ticket out of his
pocket, Diracus exclaimed: “let’s do the calculations” and began
to scribble down some equations and numbers.
To King Neutrino’s delight, everything worked out exactly as
Diracus had foretold. Neutrino held possession of the diamond
just long enough to show it to Proton, and Neutrino and the
beautiful Juliet were married and lived happily ever after.
∗ ∗ ∗
If King Neutrino’s world seems strange to you, dear reader, then welcome
to the crazy domain of Quantum Mechanics. In this chapter, ideas that seem
bizarre based on our everyday experience are explored, and shown to be not
only possible, but essential for the explanation of experimental observations.
“Common Sense”, which was never common 1 and seldom sense, is no longer
useful as a guide to understanding Quantum Mechanics. Instead reliance
must be placed on consistency, meticulous experimentation and observation
to lead us in our quest.
5.2 Et Lux Fuit (and There Was Light)
Let us continue our story in our own universe at the end of the Nineteenth
Century, when the general consensus among scientists was that all relevant
1 This observation is usually attributed to Voltaire: See Appendix 5.1. Suffice it so say here that
common sense, in the domain of Quantum Mechanics, is of very little use, as we will discover in
the following pages.
R. Barrett and P. P. Delsanto
distraught king approached one of his friends, Paolo Diracus,
who happened to be a very famous physicist, for advice.
The answer he received was indeed very helpful. Diracus
replied: “As you probably know, in this world, Heisenberg’s
Uncertainty Principle is valid, not just in the realm of physics, but
also in the field of economics.” King Neutrino nodded sagely,
although he understood little. Technical issues tended to put
him in a spin. The physicist continued: “And my experimentalist
friends tell me that lately some of the fundamental physical
constants have begun to fluctuate wildly in value. Indeed, h,
a constant named after my colleague, Maximus Planck, has
recently increased greatly. So perhaps you can borrow, free of
charge, the amount of money you need to buy the diamond,
provided that you only need to show it to Juliet’s father for a
very short time.” Pulling a pencil and an old bus ticket out of his
pocket, Diracus exclaimed: “let’s do the calculations” and began
to scribble down some equations and numbers.
To King Neutrino’s delight, everything worked out exactly as
Diracus had foretold. Neutrino held possession of the diamond
just long enough to show it to Proton, and Neutrino and the
beautiful Juliet were married and lived happily ever after.
∗ ∗ ∗
If King Neutrino’s world seems strange to you, dear reader, then welcome
to the crazy domain of Quantum Mechanics. In this chapter, ideas that seem
bizarre based on our everyday experience are explored, and shown to be not
only possible, but essential for the explanation of experimental observations.
“Common Sense”, which was never common 1 and seldom sense, is no longer
useful as a guide to understanding Quantum Mechanics. Instead reliance
must be placed on consistency, meticulous experimentation and observation
to lead us in our quest.
5.2 Et Lux Fuit (and There Was Light)
Let us continue our story in our own universe at the end of the Nineteenth
Century, when the general consensus among scientists was that all relevant
1 This observation is usually attributed to Voltaire: See Appendix 5.1. Suffice it so say here that
common sense, in the domain of Quantum Mechanics, is of very little use, as we will discover in
the following pages.