The Physical Meaning of the Wave Function

1
The Physical Meaning of the Wave Function
2
Wave Function for Light in Classic Mechanics
Superposition creates regions of constructive and
destructive diffraction according to the relative
incidence of the waves. The light intensity is
distributed by the square of the wave envelope
3
The Particle-like Nature of the Measuring Process
The beam of electrons is distributed according to
its wavelike nature. Does each electron behave
like a wave, hitting the screen in several places
simultaneously?
4
The Particle-like Nature of the Measuring Process
During the measurment the electron behaves like a
particle it can be in one place only. The wave
function determines the distribution (probability
density) for finding the electron in a specific
position
5
Base Transitions
The information implicit in the wave function
enables to transform between various
presentations of the particle properties.
The momentum picture
The position picture
?(x)
g(k)
Fourier ? Transform
The probability for finding a particle with a
specific momentum
6
Wave Function for Light in Quantum Mechanics
For a large number of n particles
7
Quantum Mechanics Postulates for a 1-dimension
Free Particle

1. (The tools of the game) The system status can be
   described by a wavepacket (the board of the game)
   pertaining to the space of continuous functions
   on the x axis

1. (The rules of the game) For each component in the
   wavepacket the following is true

1. (The interface) the measuring action has the
   following probability of finding the particle in
   a single length element dx

8
Probability Density
The odds of finding a particle between x and xdx
The odds of finding a particle between x1 and x2
The odds of finding a particle in the whole space
(normalization)