Uncertainty Principles for Position- and Momentum-Like Operators
Faculty Mentor Name
Cameron Williams
Format Preference
Poster
Abstract
At the quantum scale, objects such as fundamental particles, atoms, and molecules are modeled as localized wavepackets rather than concrete objects. As such, some quantities that are well-defined at our human scale physics instead become uncertain. For instance, quantum objects do not have a precise position, and instead their position is understood probabilistically and we look to the expected, or average, value of the position.
Another quirk of quantum mechanics is that quantities such as position and momentum become operators that act on functions, similar to matrices acting on vectors. As such, quantities that may have commuted classically may not at the quantum level. For instance, position (x) and momentum (p) commute in classical physics (xp = px), but they do not commute at the quantum level (xp ≠ px). For noncommuting operators A and B, the uncertainty principle qualitatively describes how well one can know A and B simultaneously: the more certain one is of the value of A, the less one knows the value B and vice versa. The standard example is that of position and momentum: the Heisenberg uncertainty principle states that the more certain one is of the position of a quantum object, the more uncertain one is about its momentum.
The classic uncertainty principles between noncommuting operators are those of position and momentum, the z and x or y components of angular momentum, and number and phase operators. These operators are very rigid and do not provide easy generalization to more general operators.
In this project, we used an infinite matrix representation to analyze the uncertainty principle underlying position and momentum which allows for broader generalization. The biggest component of this project was determining eigenvalues of infinite banded matrices which was aided by the use of the mathematical software Mathematica.
Uncertainty Principles for Position- and Momentum-Like Operators
At the quantum scale, objects such as fundamental particles, atoms, and molecules are modeled as localized wavepackets rather than concrete objects. As such, some quantities that are well-defined at our human scale physics instead become uncertain. For instance, quantum objects do not have a precise position, and instead their position is understood probabilistically and we look to the expected, or average, value of the position.
Another quirk of quantum mechanics is that quantities such as position and momentum become operators that act on functions, similar to matrices acting on vectors. As such, quantities that may have commuted classically may not at the quantum level. For instance, position (x) and momentum (p) commute in classical physics (xp = px), but they do not commute at the quantum level (xp ≠ px). For noncommuting operators A and B, the uncertainty principle qualitatively describes how well one can know A and B simultaneously: the more certain one is of the value of A, the less one knows the value B and vice versa. The standard example is that of position and momentum: the Heisenberg uncertainty principle states that the more certain one is of the position of a quantum object, the more uncertain one is about its momentum.
The classic uncertainty principles between noncommuting operators are those of position and momentum, the z and x or y components of angular momentum, and number and phase operators. These operators are very rigid and do not provide easy generalization to more general operators.
In this project, we used an infinite matrix representation to analyze the uncertainty principle underlying position and momentum which allows for broader generalization. The biggest component of this project was determining eigenvalues of infinite banded matrices which was aided by the use of the mathematical software Mathematica.