1900: A physics genius wandering around Europe

Chapter 523: The pinnacle of human wisdom! The history of quantum mechanics! Li Qiwei's choice! Quantum master!
Quantum Research Institute.

The atmosphere was a little awkward.

Because of the dispute between matrix mechanics and wave mechanics, the relationship between Heisenberg and Schrödinger took a sharp turn for the worse.

Although the two of them cannot be said to be enemies, the dispute over the orthodox doctrine is not so easy to resolve.

This allowed everyone in the institute to satisfy their craving for gossip.

“Wonderful! Exciting!”

"I just like watching this kind of plot where geniuses kill each other!"

"The two are evenly matched, neither can do anything to the other."

"Btw, I personally like wave mechanics."

"."

Heisenberg felt very lonely at the institute.

He paid special attention to the recent publication of papers in major physics journals.

A very sad fact came to light:

More than 90% of papers on quantum mechanics use the framework of wave mechanics.

He even saw Born's paper.

"what!"

"Bohn, you traitor!"

"You are also considered a big shot who participated in the creation of Matrix Mechanics."

"How can you do this!"

Heisenberg felt the feeling of being deserted.

The only thing that comforted him was that Senior Brother Pauli had been silently supporting him.

Pauli himself said to him:
"Matrix mechanics is the orthodoxy of quantum mechanics!"

Pauli was indeed a good guy. He even published a paper about this sentence.

Based on matrix mechanics, Pauli introduced a new matrix called Pauli matrix.

Using it, we can better explain the relationship between magnetic field and spin.

He perfected and expanded matrix mechanics in detail.

Wave mechanics has a fatal flaw, which is its inadequate description of electron spin.

And now Pauli even strengthened the description of spin by matrix mechanics.

The gap widened again in an instant.

Heisenberg was delighted.

"This is what a true brother is!"

The struggle between Heisenberg and Schrödinger continues.

Most people in the research institute were just watching the show, but there was one person who had mixed feelings.

Irena sat quietly in her office alone.

Her thoughts had already flown away to who knows where.

She doesn't care which is the orthodox one, matrix mechanics or wave mechanics.

In her opinion, this is something that can be resolved through meeting and discussion.

Because the truth becomes clearer the more it is debated, she believes that Professor Bruce will definitely give a final conclusion.

What Irena is concerned about is why every time such a great physical event is triggered by a man?

Various new theoretical systems were first proposed by men.

This made her very dissatisfied.

“We women can also create a scientific craze!”

Although Irena has made certain contributions to the concept of power, that is not enough for her to have a dominant influence on the academic world.

After all, the concept of strong force was first conceived by Professor Bruce.

So, she needs to make an innovative breakthrough!

Just like Heisenberg and Schrödinger, they caused a sensation in the entire physics community.

Unfortunately, her doctoral project has been slow to progress so far.

There have been no particularly significant discoveries in the field of atomic nuclei.

Therefore, Irena is powerless and she is very depressed.

“Where is my path?”

At this moment, Irena didn't know that her brilliant destiny had not yet arrived.

Following quantum mechanics, it will usher in a new era of physics.

And in that great era, a terrifying theory that can reshape the world will emerge: uranium nuclear fission!
No words can overstate its importance.

In this life, Li Qiwei wants to use it to reach the true supreme peak!
But now, he has to deal with more pressing problems.

Matrix mechanics, wave mechanics, which one is the orthodox of quantum mechanics?
In real history, quantum mechanics, from its birth to its development and final perfection, can be said to have gathered the wisdom of all the top geniuses of the time.

Therefore, its history is very, very fascinating.

From the overall framework, it can be divided into three stages: old quantum theory, transition period, and quantum mechanics.

The old quantum theory is centered on Planck's quantum concept, Einstein's wave-particle duality of light, and Bohr's quantum orbit model.

The transition period was marked by the use of de Broglie's matter wave theory as a bridge between the past and the future.

Finally, we enter the stage of quantum mechanics.

This stage is more complicated and the process is more tortuous than the old quantum theory.

It can be roughly divided into the following periods.

First, the first period.

Heisenberg and Schrödinger proposed matrix mechanics and wave mechanics respectively, which led to a war between the two factions.

But the debate at this time was mainly about issues within the field of quantum mechanics.

During this period, Born proposed the famous "probability interpretation". (Detailed explanation later)

This explanation is about the meaning of the wave function ψ in the wave equation.

Schrödinger believed that electron waves were just like ordinary water waves, and the wave function represented the regular changes of electron waves over time and space.

But Born believed that the wave function ψ was not an electron wave, nor did it diffuse and move like a real wave.

He believed that electron waves were a kind of probability waves.

It turns out that Born's probabilistic interpretation is correct.

So, some people joked that "Schrödinger didn't understand the Schrödinger equation."

This means that Schrödinger's interpretation of the wave function in the wave equation he proposed was wrong.

But neither Schrödinger nor Einstein accepted the probabilistic interpretation.

Then comes the second period.

In the first period, Schrödinger was defeated because of the wave function problem.

Although he himself did not admit it, the mainstream physics community accepted Born's probabilistic interpretation.

In addition, Schrödinger's failure does not affect the fact that wave mechanics is still everyone's favorite version.

Even the probabilistic interpretation makes wave mechanics more mature and complete.

Therefore, Heisenberg was very upset.

Obviously, Schrödinger was defeated, but his wave mechanics became more popular than matrix mechanics.

Under this extreme emotion, Heisenberg's inspiration burst out and he rose against the sky.

Based on matrix mechanics, he proposed an even more amazing theory.

That is the famous [uncertainty principle]!
That is: it is impossible to determine the position and momentum of a microscopic particle at the same time.

This theory made Heisenberg's matrix mechanics shine.

At the same time, Schrödinger himself proved mathematically that wave mechanics and matrix mechanics are actually equivalent.

This means that neither theory is wrong.

But the physical basis of the two is completely different.

When is an electron a wave and when is it a particle?
How can you be sure?
This shows that there must be a deeper reason that leads to this incredible situation.

Quantum mechanics urgently needs to create a new theory to reconcile the contradictions between particles and waves.

In this situation, Bohr took action!

Quantum mechanics entered its third period.

At that time, Bohr was the undisputed leader in the field of quantum mechanics. So, although Heisenberg was considered half of his disciple, he did not favor the other.

Bohr believed that the wave nature of wave mechanics and the particle nature of matrix mechanics were both correct and should be considered simultaneously.

In other words, he thought that both Heisenberg and Schrödinger were wrong.

But how to unify the nature of the two contradictions?
While Bohr was skiing in Norway to relax, he had an epiphany and finally came up with the perfect solution.

That is the famous [complementarity principle]!
He believes that when describing a single quantum object, any unilateral description is incomplete.

Only by considering both particle and wave perspectives simultaneously can a complete description of a single quantum object be formed.

This view may sound like nonsense, but it contains the most profound meaning of quantum mechanics.

When the principle of complementarity is explained in mathematical form, two important concepts are derived.

[Principle of superposition of states] and [collapse of wave function].

These two concepts are closely related to the later single-electron double-slit interference experiment.

The double-slit experiment, which seems mysterious and shocking to ordinary people, is perfectly explained by the principle of complementarity.

Not mysterious at all!
As for the further delayed choice experiment and quantum eraser experiment based on the double-slit interference experiment, they are also not mysterious at all.

They can all be easily explained by the principle of complementarity.

At this point, the framework of quantum mechanics is complete.

However, there is still a small problem left.

That is, wave mechanics cannot explain the problem of electron spin.

Then, Dirac came into being. He combined the special theory of relativity and quantum mechanics and proposed the Dirac equation.

This equation can perfectly explain electron spin and completely fill the last shortcoming of quantum mechanics.

Then, based on this, Dirac developed the framework of quantum field theory, providing the most powerful theoretical tools for subsequent particle physics.

However, that is another topic and I will not discuss it in detail here.

At this point, someone might ask:
Huh? No, no.

“God doesn’t play dice!”;
"If I don't look at the moon, does that mean it no longer exists?";
"Schrödinger's cat";
"Quantum entanglement".

Why haven’t these classic contents appeared yet?
Don't worry.

After the end of the third period, led by Bohr, Heisenberg, Pauli, Born and others, formed the famous Copenhagen School in the field of quantum mechanics.

The core concept of the Copenhagen School is the famous "Copenhagen Interpretation".

It includes three contents: Born's probability interpretation, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, and Bohr's complementarity principle.

With the Copenhagen interpretation, Bohr and others challenged the world's heroes!

And these heroes are headed by Einstein.

After Born proposed the probabilistic interpretation, Einstein wrote privately to Bohr.

He believed that the nature of the world could not be random probability.

This gave rise to the famous saying "God does not play dice".

However, when Bohr proposed the principle of complementarity, the principle of superposition of states, and the collapse of wave function, Einstein jumped out to oppose it.

The rebuttal is: "If I don't look at the moon, does that mean it doesn't exist?"

Finally, these contradictions broke out at the Fifth Solvay Conference in 1927!

Thus, the most famous conference in human history was born.

At this Solvay Conference, Bohr was so powerful and majestic that he left Einstein and others speechless with his rebuttal.

Whether it's rolling dice or looking at the moon, all problems can be solved easily under the Copenhagen interpretation.

The conservative group headed by Einstein and composed of Schrödinger and de Broglie suffered a crushing defeat!
However, Einstein was not convinced by Bohr and he did not give up.

Then, at the Sixth Solvay Conference in 1930, another war broke out between the two sides.

This time, Einstein targeted the uncertainty principle.

He proposed the famous "Einstein light box".

As soon as this thought experiment came out, Heisenberg and others were instantly panicked.

It seemed that Einstein was about to win, but at the last moment, Bohr made another move.

The Copenhagen Interpretation wins for the second time!
Einstein suffered two consecutive defeats, but he became more and more courageous.

Finally, in 1935, he launched his final attack on quantum mechanics!
He and his assistant published a paper of only a few pages, called the "EPR paper."

This paper questions the completeness of quantum mechanics.

As soon as the article came out, it caused a sensation in the academic community!

Everyone thought that Einstein was going to win this time.

But joy turns to sorrow, and Bohr made his third move!
This time, he proposed the famous concept of "quantum entanglement".

This shattered the doubts about the EPR paper in one fell swoop.

Einstein became disheartened from then on.

At this point, the Copenhagen School became the absolute authority in the field of quantum mechanics.

Defeating Einstein three times, what a terrifying and impressive record!
The name of Bohr is so terrifying!
However, just as the Copenhagen School was rejoicing.

Things are reversed again!

Just two and a half years later.

Einstein's top general and loyal younger brother, Schrödinger, suddenly exploded.

He launched the conservatives' final attack.

In the eyes of many people, this is the death throes of Einstein and others.

But this blow hit the Copenhagen School's weak spot hard!

Schrödinger never believed in concepts such as probabilistic explanations and wave function collapse.

He cleverly introduced these incredible concepts into the macroscopic world.

This led to what is probably the most famous thought experiment in the field of quantum mechanics.

[Schrödinger's cat]!
When the fourth mythical beast appeared, the whole world was shocked.

This time, the Copenhagen School could no longer solve the cat.

Even Bohr couldn't do anything about it.

Because it combines human consciousness and the objective world.

Even more incredible than the Copenhagen interpretation itself.

To this day, Schrödinger's cat remains an unsolvable problem.

In order to explain this problem, some other quantum mechanics explanations were developed later.

For example: the parallel universe theory, etc.

But these theories are not perfect.

That’s why Schrödinger’s cat is so famous!
It still floats like a ghost in the world of quantum mechanics, waiting for the final judgment.

The above is the entire historical context of quantum mechanics and the Copenhagen School.

It is no exaggeration to say that this is a dramatic, magnificent history of the pinnacle of human wisdom.

Whenever Li Qiwei looks back on this period of history, he feels a sense of awe.

The collision of ideas of many peerless geniuses shines the brightest sparks of human rationality!

But at the same time, he would also feel a deep sense of regret.

Because the history of the development of quantum mechanics may become the swan song in human history!

unprecedented!
It will never be possible for so many top physicists to gather together and discuss eternity for the sake of pure academic research!
but!

Li Qiwei is lucky!
Now, he has come to this era.

His status at this moment surpassed Einstein and Bohr.

So, how will he lead this greatest academic debate?

He is the tyrant who conquers the world alone!
Or be detached and look down on the quantum genius!
This chapter is a masterpiece.

First, let us understand the true history of the development of quantum mechanics.

Then you can understand how the protagonist pretends to be cool.

There are two choices for the ending. Which one do you like?

Interested readers can leave a message in this chapter.

Deduct 1 for the first type and 2 for the second type.

I will take your opinions into consideration.

The writing styles of the two pretentious methods are slightly different.


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(End of this chapter)