2001) On the nature of continuous physical quantities in classical and quantum mechanics
Hans Halvorson
Within the traditional Hilbert space formalism of quantum me-chanics, it is not possible to describe a particle as possessing, simul-taneously, a sharp position value and a sharp momentum value. Is it possible, though, to describe a particle as possessing just a sharp position value (or just a sharp momentum value)? Some, such as Teller [21], have thought that the answer to this question is No — that the status of individual continuous quantities is very different in quantum mechanics than in classical mechanics. On the contrary, I shall show that the same subtle issues arise with respect to contin-uous quantities in classical and quantum mechanics; and that it is, after all, possible to describe a particle as possessing a sharp position value without altering the standard formalism of quantum mechanics. 1
•Jul 1, 2000•23 citations