Post by Aimepenser on Apr 17, 2006 9:08:29 GMT -5
Related to the discussion at the last meeting, I looked up some info on hidden variable theories in quantum mechanics. You may find the wikipedia entry useful:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hidden_variable_theory
I personally think it is lacking. I would recommend that you get hold of Griffiths Introduction to Quantum Mechanics if you want a clearer explanation (see the very last pages of this text). Though the wiki is better for completeness, since you can go from there to look at articles for the related experiments by clicking on the "experiments" hyperlink. There you might read:
"Over the past thirty or so years, a great number of Bell test experiments have now been conducted. These experiments have (subject to a few assumptions, considered by most to be reasonable) confirmed quantum theory and shown results that cannot be explained under local hidden variable theories."
And perhaps even more convincing:
"This test violated the CHSH inequality by over 30 standard deviations, the coincidence curves agreeing with those predicted by quantum theory."
I'll leave you to learn for yourself what the CHSH inequality is, but for those of you not schooled in statistics, 30 standard deviations is beyond even an unreasonable doubt. Naturally we are still left able to question the method of the experiment, as it says in the article.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hidden_variable_theory
I personally think it is lacking. I would recommend that you get hold of Griffiths Introduction to Quantum Mechanics if you want a clearer explanation (see the very last pages of this text). Though the wiki is better for completeness, since you can go from there to look at articles for the related experiments by clicking on the "experiments" hyperlink. There you might read:
"Over the past thirty or so years, a great number of Bell test experiments have now been conducted. These experiments have (subject to a few assumptions, considered by most to be reasonable) confirmed quantum theory and shown results that cannot be explained under local hidden variable theories."
And perhaps even more convincing:
"This test violated the CHSH inequality by over 30 standard deviations, the coincidence curves agreeing with those predicted by quantum theory."
I'll leave you to learn for yourself what the CHSH inequality is, but for those of you not schooled in statistics, 30 standard deviations is beyond even an unreasonable doubt. Naturally we are still left able to question the method of the experiment, as it says in the article.