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Journal of Chemical Education

In Defense of a Heuristic Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics

Eamonn F. Healy

Published Mar 10, 2010• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Although the presentation of quantum mechanics found in traditional textbooks is intellectually well founded, it suffers from a number of deficiencies. Specifically introducing quantum mechanics as a solution to the arcane dilemma, the ultraviolet catastrophe, does little to impress a nonscientific audience of the tremendous paradigmatic shift that quantum mechanics represented. Mathematical descriptions of the wave function can also fail to impart to the audience the true nature of the quantum measurement problem and its implications for our concept of reality. Presenting both Bell’s theorem and Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle in a heuristic framework allows for a conceptual-based discussion of quantum phenomena suitable for a mathematically naïve undergraduate or an interested nonscientist.

DOI
10.1021/ed8001545

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Although the presentation of quantum mechanics found in traditional textbooks is intellectually well founded, it suffers from a number of deficiencies. Specifically introducing quantum mechanics as a solution to the arcane dilemma, the ultraviolet catastrophe, does little to impress a nonscientific audience of the tremendous paradigmatic shift that quantum mechanics represented. Mathematical descriptions of the wave function can also fail to impart to the audience the true nature of the quantum measurement problem and its implications for our concept of reality. Presenting both Bell’s theorem and Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle in a heuristic framework allows for a conceptual-based discussion of quantum phenomena suitable for a mathematically naïve undergraduate or an interested nonscientist.
All the concepts and principles necessary to understand quantum mechanics on an initial level are given in a form suitable for the non-expert. The concepts explained include visualizing the wave function, wave-particle duality, the implications of Schrodinger's cat, probability, the uncertainty principle, collapse of the wave function, and others. However, because of the peculiar, non-intuitive nature of quantum mechanics, one must understand the potential interpretations of its mathematics before one can properly understand these concepts. Thus the paper is organized aorund interpretations, conceptual pictures that explain the peculiar properties of the theory. The only interpretation that currently satisfies all the constraints imposed by experiments and the theory itself makes use of a perceiving Mind which is outside the laws of quantum mechanics.
Quantum mechanics (QM) has the problem of lacking a coherent conceptual foundation, even if its quantitative algorithms are functionally adequate. This paper appraises the conceptual logic beneath quantum mechanics, using as the point of reference a novel alternative conceptual framework called the cordus conjecture. If the cordus conjecture is correct then the comparison suggests that quantum mechanics is conceptually fallacious in several areas: (1) Particles need not be zero-dimensional points after all. (2) Bell�s theorem is refuted as being not universally applicable, and the principle of locality also fails. (3) The wavefunction is a mathematical approximation of a deeper reality, and superposition is not a physical state. (4) Superposition confounds positional and causal (temporal) variability, and this causes the weirdness of the QM interpretations. (5) Cordus identifies the factors that cause decoherence and (6) explains why quantum mechanics does not scale up to macroscopic objects. (7) It is fallacious to consider fields and particles as independent phenomena. Instead they are closely coupled in the cordus, and this explains the measurement context. Several core principles of QM are thereby refuted. The paradox of Schr�dinger�s Cat is explained as an artefact of these flawed premises. The paper also explains why the mathematical machinery of quantum mechanics is a reasonable approximation to reality, even if the concepts are not. The mathematics works, at least within a certain scale-range where: (a) things look like particles and the proposed cordus structure is not evident (i.e. not too small) and (b) where body-coherence is attainable (i.e. not too large). Outside of that range quantum mechanics seems neither conceptually nor mathematically relevant. The same analysis predicts QM is unlikely to scale down to the next deeper level of physics. The implications are that QM is profoundly deficient in its conceptual foundations, and is only an approximation of a deeper and more logically consistent mechanics.
The problems of modern physics are man made. The Copenhagen version of quantum mechanics is formulated in a vague prosaic way, inconsistencies and paradoxes are the price. New interpretations try to solve the problem, however a reformulation rather than an interpretation is needed. In this manuscript I will point out, where the Copenhagen formulation of quantum mechanics is flawed and how one can make sense out of it. Then I will show, that it is possible to give a precise formulation of quantum mechanics without losing its compelling ability in describing experiments.
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The problems of modern physics are man made.The Copenhagen version of quantum mechanics is formulated in a vague prosaic way, inconsistencies and paradoxes are the price.New interpretations try to solve the problem, however a reformulation rather than an interpretation is needed.In this manuscript I will point out, where the Copenhagen formulation of quantum mechanics is flawed and how one can make sense out of it.Then I will show, that it is possible to give a precise formulation of quantum mechanics without losing its compelling ability in describing experiments.
Quantum mechanics is often thought to be a difficult subject to understand, not only in the complexity of its mathematics but also in its conceptual foundation. In this paper we emphasize students' depictions of the uncertainty principle and wave-particle duality of quantum events, phenomena that could serve as a foundation in building an understanding of quantum mechanics. A phenomenographic study was carried out to categorize a picture of students' descriptions of these key quantum concepts. Data for this study were obtained from a semistructured in-depth interview conducted with undergraduate physics students (N=25N=25N=25) from Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. The phenomenographic data analysis revealed that it is possible to construct three qualitatively different categories to map students' depictions of the concept wave-particle duality, namely, (1) classical description, (2) mixed classical-quantum description, and (3) quasiquantum description. Similarly, it is proposed that students' depictions of the concept uncertainty can be described with four different categories of description, which are (1) uncertainty as an extrinsic property of measurement, (2) uncertainty principle as measurement error or uncertainty, (3) uncertainty as measurement disturbance, and (4) uncertainty as a quantum mechanics uncertainty principle. Overall, we found students are more likely to prefer a classical picture of interpretations of quantum mechanics. However, few students in the quasiquantum category applied typical wave phenomena such as interference and diffraction that cannot be explained within the framework classical physics for depicting the wavelike properties of quantum entities. Despite inhospitable conceptions of the uncertainty principle and wave- and particlelike properties of quantum entities in our investigation, the findings presented in this paper are highly consistent with those reported in previous studies. New findings and some implications for instruction and the curricula are discussed.