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Revista Mexicana de Física

Sobre el principio de incertidumbre de Heisenberg entre tiempo y energía: una nota didáctica

Gastón E. Giribet

Published Jan 1, 2005• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

This brief note has the didactical purpose of discussing the meaning of the uncertainty principle involving energy and time in quantum mechanics within the context of the seminal works on this subject. The importance of this topic is, indeed, frecuently neglected in several textbooks on quantum mechanics. Then, these pages are addressed to students attending to an undergraduate course on quantum mechanics; and the original aim is to present a list of references of the points which take part in the principal discussions on the subject. Principal attention is devoted to the discussion of the fallacies, which are indeed persistent in the literature.

Related papers

On the Energy-Time Uncertainty Relations: A didactical note for undergraduate students

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The purpose of this brief note is that of discussing the meaning of the uncertainty relations involving energy and time in quantum mechanics by means of a reading of the classical works on the subject. This was written for undergraduate students attending to an introductory course in quantum mechanics.

arXiv:physics/0506001•May 31, 2005•0 citations

Los orígenes del principio de indeterminación

Ana Rioja

The formulation in 1927 of the so called uncertainty principle by Werner Heisenberg was originated to resolve a problem with wich it apparently did not bear any relation: the possible intuitive content of the quantum theory, whose mathematic formalism had already been constituted at the end of 1925. The work's objective consists in the detailed showing of the ideas which lead to it's obtainment, apart from all discussion relative to the determinist or indeterminist behavior of atomic systems. El principio de indeterminacion de Heisenberg con frecuencia se ha convertido en la puerta de entrada en la ciencia de todo tipo de disquisiciones sobre el caracter determinista o indeterminista de los procesos fisicos, sobre la validez universal de las leyes naturales, e incluso ha avivado el fuego de las polemicas acerca del eterno problema del libre albedrio. Sin embargo, la discusion que promovio su hallazgo en ningun momento giro en torno a este tipo de cuestiones. Lo que aqui me propongo analizar no son estos debates producidos con posterioridad a 1927, sino el problema para el que las relaciones de incertidumbre se presentaron como una solucion. Dicho problema consistia en un asunto de caracter metodologico, cuya mejor formulacion viene expresada en el propio titulo del articulo de Heisenberg en el que aparecieron publicadas estas relaciones de incertidumbre: 'Uber den anschaulichen Inhalt der quantentheoretischen Kinematic und Mechanik'1. Resulta sorprendente que el tema de la indeterminacion se introdujera a proposito de algo con lo que aparentemente no guardaba ninguna relacion: el posible contenido intuitivo de una teoria, la teoria cuantica, cuyo formalismo matematico estaba ya constituido a finales de 1925. Desde luego, no se trata de algo desconocido para cualquier lector de la obra de Heisenberg, pero si constituye una de esas cuestiones mas citadas que estudiadas, sobre la que no se ha llevado a cabo un

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A Brief Quantum Mechanics Primer

This chapter should be treated as an appendix. It is included for completeness and covers certain fundamentals of quantum mechanics that will aid the understanding of topics discussed in this textbook. The reader is urged to refer to many of the good introductory textbooks on the subject to learn or revisit the fundamental concepts [1, 2, 3, 4]. First, we briefly discuss three key ingredients of quantum mechanics, i.e., the blackbody radiation spectrum, the concept of the photon and de Broglie wavelength, and the related wave-particle duality concept. Next, we briefly restate the four major postulates of quantum mechanics used in the so-called orthodox or Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics that is in vogue. We continue on to describe a generalized form of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle which is illustrated with a few familiar bound state problems (particle-in-a-box and one-dimensional harmonic oscillator) and a few spin related problems.

CRC Press eBooks•Sep 18, 2015•0 citations

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First, I briefly review the different conceptions of time held by three rival interpretations of quantum theory: the collapse of the wave-packet, the pilot-wave interpretation, and the Everett interpretation (Section 2). Then I turn to a much less controversial task: to expound the recent understanding of the time-energy uncertainty principle, and indeed of uncertainty principles in general, that has been established by such authors as Busch, Hilgevoord and Uffink. Although this may at first seem a narrow topic, I point out connections to other conceptual topics about time in quantum theory: for example, the question under what circumstances there is a time operator (Section 4.3).

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Because time does not appear in Schr\"odinger's equation as an operator but only as a parameter, the time-energy uncertainty relation must be formulated in a special way. This problem has in fact been studied by many authors and we give a summary of their treatments. We then criticize the main conclusion of these treatments; viz., that in a measurement of energy carried out in a time interval, $\ensuremath{\Delta}t$, there must be a minimum uncertainty in the transfer of energy to the observed system, given by $\ensuremath{\Delta}({E}^{\ensuremath{'}}\ensuremath{-}E)>~\frac{h}{\ensuremath{\Delta}t}$. We show that this conclusion is erroneous in two respects. First, it is not consistent with the general principles of the quantum theory, which require that all uncertainty relations be expressible in terms of the mathematical formalism, i.e., by means of operators, wave functions, etc. Secondly, the examples of measurement processes that were used to derive the above uncertainty relation are not general enough. We then develop a systematic presentation of our own point of view, with regard to the role of time in the quantum theory, and give a concrete example of a measurement process not satisfying the above uncertainty relation.

Physical Review•Jun 1, 1961•481 citations
This brief note has the didactical purpose of discussing the meaning of the uncertainty principle involving energy and time in quantum mechanics within the context of the seminal works on this subject. The importance of this topic is, indeed, frecuently neglected in several textbooks on quantum mechanics. Then, these pages are addressed to students attending to an undergraduate course on quantum mechanics; and the original aim is to present a list of references of the points which take part in the principal discussions on the subject. Principal attention is devoted to the discussion of the fallacies, which are indeed persistent in the literature.
The formulation in 1927 of the so called uncertainty principle by Werner Heisenberg was originated to resolve a problem with wich it apparently did not bear any relation: the possible intuitive content of the quantum theory, whose mathematic formalism had already been constituted at the end of 1925. The work's objective consists in the detailed showing of the ideas which lead to it's obtainment, apart from all discussion relative to the determinist or indeterminist behavior of atomic systems. El principio de indeterminacion de Heisenberg con frecuencia se ha convertido en la puerta de entrada en la ciencia de todo tipo de disquisiciones sobre el caracter determinista o indeterminista de los procesos fisicos, sobre la validez universal de las leyes naturales, e incluso ha avivado el fuego de las polemicas acerca del eterno problema del libre albedrio. Sin embargo, la discusion que promovio su hallazgo en ningun momento giro en torno a este tipo de cuestiones. Lo que aqui me propongo analizar no son estos debates producidos con posterioridad a 1927, sino el problema para el que las relaciones de incertidumbre se presentaron como una solucion. Dicho problema consistia en un asunto de caracter metodologico, cuya mejor formulacion viene expresada en el propio titulo del articulo de Heisenberg en el que aparecieron publicadas estas relaciones de incertidumbre: 'Uber den anschaulichen Inhalt der quantentheoretischen Kinematic und Mechanik'1. Resulta sorprendente que el tema de la indeterminacion se introdujera a proposito de algo con lo que aparentemente no guardaba ninguna relacion: el posible contenido intuitivo de una teoria, la teoria cuantica, cuyo formalismo matematico estaba ya constituido a finales de 1925. Desde luego, no se trata de algo desconocido para cualquier lector de la obra de Heisenberg, pero si constituye una de esas cuestiones mas citadas que estudiadas, sobre la que no se ha llevado a cabo un
This chapter should be treated as an appendix. It is included for completeness and covers certain fundamentals of quantum mechanics that will aid the understanding of topics discussed in this textbook. The reader is urged to refer to many of the good introductory textbooks on the subject to learn or revisit the fundamental concepts [1, 2, 3, 4]. First, we briefly discuss three key ingredients of quantum mechanics, i.e., the blackbody radiation spectrum, the concept of the photon and de Broglie wavelength, and the related wave-particle duality concept. Next, we briefly restate the four major postulates of quantum mechanics used in the so-called orthodox or Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics that is in vogue. We continue on to describe a generalized form of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle which is illustrated with a few familiar bound state problems (particle-in-a-box and one-dimensional harmonic oscillator) and a few spin related problems.
First, I briefly review the different conceptions of time held by three rival interpretations of quantum theory: the collapse of the wave-packet, the pilot-wave interpretation, and the Everett interpretation (Section 2). Then I turn to a much less controversial task: to expound the recent understanding of the time-energy uncertainty principle, and indeed of uncertainty principles in general, that has been established by such authors as Busch, Hilgevoord and Uffink. Although this may at first seem a narrow topic, I point out connections to other conceptual topics about time in quantum theory: for example, the question under what circumstances there is a time operator (Section 4.3).
This book is based on notes from the course developed and taught for more than 30 years at the Department of Mathematics of Leningrad University. The goal of the course was to present the basics of quantum mechanics and its mathematical content to students in mathematics. This book differs from the majority of other textbooks on the subject in that much more attention is paid to general principles of quantum mechanics. In particular, the authors describe in detail the relation between classical and quantum mechanics. When selecting particular topics, the authors emphasize those that are related to interesting mathematical theories. In particular, the book contains a discussion of problems related to group representation theory and to scattering theory. This book is rather elementary and concise, and it does not require prerequisites beyond the standard undergraduate mathematical curriculum. It is aimed at giving a mathematically oriented student the opportunity to grasp the main points of quantum theory in a mathematical framework.
Because time does not appear in Schr\"odinger's equation as an operator but only as a parameter, the time-energy uncertainty relation must be formulated in a special way. This problem has in fact been studied by many authors and we give a summary of their treatments. We then criticize the main conclusion of these treatments; viz., that in a measurement of energy carried out in a time interval, $\ensuremath{\Delta}t$, there must be a minimum uncertainty in the transfer of energy to the observed system, given by $\ensuremath{\Delta}({E}^{\ensuremath{'}}\ensuremath{-}E)>~\frac{h}{\ensuremath{\Delta}t}$. We show that this conclusion is erroneous in two respects. First, it is not consistent with the general principles of the quantum theory, which require that all uncertainty relations be expressible in terms of the mathematical formalism, i.e., by means of operators, wave functions, etc. Secondly, the examples of measurement processes that were used to derive the above uncertainty relation are not general enough. We then develop a systematic presentation of our own point of view, with regard to the role of time in the quantum theory, and give a concrete example of a measurement process not satisfying the above uncertainty relation.