International Series in Natural Philosophy, Volume 30: Problems in Quantum Mechanics focuses on the processes, principles, reactions, and methodologies involved in quantum mechanics. The publication first elaborates on the mathematical formalism of quantum mechanics, simple quantum systems, and mean values and uncertainty relations. Discussions focus on mean values of dynamical variables, uncertainty relations, eigenfunctions and the energy spectrum, motion in a central field, matrix representation of vectors and operators, Hubert spaces, and operators in Hilbert space. The text then takes a l
What does it take for real-deterministic
c-valued (i.e., classical, commuting) variables to comply with the Heisenberg uncertainty principle? Here, we construct a class of real-deterministic
c-valued variables out of the weak values obtained via a nonperturbing weak measurement of quantum operators with a postselection over a complete set of state vectors basis, which always satisfies the Kennard-Robertson-Schr\"odinger uncertainty relation. First, we introduce an auxiliary global random variable and couple it to the imaginary part of the weak value to convert the incompatibility between the quantum operator and the basis into the fluctuation of an ``error term,'' and then superimpose it onto the real part of the weak value. We show that this class of ``
c-valued physical quantities'' provides a real-deterministic contextual hidden-variable model for the quantum expectation value of a certain class of operators. We then show that the Schr\"odinger and the Kennard-Robertson lower bounds can be obtained separately by imposing the classical uncertainty relation to the
c-valued physical quantities associated with a pair of Hermitian operators. Within the representation, the complementarity between two incompatible quantum observables manifests the absence of a basis wherein the error terms of the associated two
c-valued physical quantities simultaneously vanish. Furthermore, quantum uncertainty principle is captured by a specific irreducible epistemic restriction between the two
c-valued physical quantities, foreign in classical mechanics, constraining the allowed form of their joint distribution. We then suggest an epistemic interpretation of the two terms decomposing the
c-valued physical quantity as the optimal estimate under the epistemic restriction and the associated estimation error, and discuss the classical limit.
We show that the quantum mechanical interpretation of the diffraction of light on a slit, when a wave function is assigned to a photon, can be used for a direct experimental study of Heisenberg’s position-momentum and equivalent positionwave vector uncertainty relation for the photon. Results of an experimental test of the position-wave vector uncertainty relation, where the wavelength is used as the input parameter, are given and they very well confirm our approach. The same experimental results can also be used for a test of the position-momentum uncertainty relation when the momentum p0 of a photon is known as the input parameter. We show that a measurement of p0, independent of the knowledge of the value of the Planck’s constant, is possible. Using that value of p0, a test of the position-momentum uncertainty relation could be regarded as a method for a direct measurement of the Planck’s constant. This is discussed, since the diffraction pattern is also well described by classical electrodynamics in the considered experimental conditions. This approach for testing the Heisenberg’s uncertainty relations is very simple and consequently suitable as a quantitative exercise in undergraduate experimental courses, as well as a visual and attractive demonstration of the Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle in courses of quantum mechanics.