How much QM do you know?FermiDIrac19 said:
I took an introductory course on QM. But it seems I am missing some fundamental steps to understand this process.PeroK said:
When you say "determine the momentum" can you be mathematically precise about what you want to calculate?FermiDIrac19 said:
Well, specifically I want to determine what angle a state is in, in a quantum system. I thought this would be best determined from the x- and y- values of the momentum values of the system.PeroK said:
If you know the position-space wavefunction, you can inverse Fourier transform it to get the momentum-space wavefunction. That tells you all there is to know about momentum for the given wavefunction.FermiDIrac19 said:
Thank you for the reply.PeroK said:
There is no momentum to compute. That's why you have a wavefunction in QM instead of a definite position and momentum. The Heisenberg uncertainty principle and all that.FermiDIrac19 said:
I'm confused. Could I not in a 2D eigenstate of a quantum system determine the momentum as an approxmation of a derivative in the 2D lattice of the wavefunction values?PeroK said:
No. This is not QM.FermiDIrac19 said:
PeroK said:
It depends on the wavefunction. The alternative is to Fourier transform to momentum space.FermiDIrac19 said:
Thank you for your responses.PeroK said:
A QM analysis of graphene sounds like quite an advanced specialist question!FermiDIrac19 said:
Momentum is a physical quantity that describes the motion of an object. In the context of wavefunctions, momentum is a measure of the uncertainty in an object's position and velocity.
To determine momentum from a wavefunction, you can use the momentum operator, which is represented by the symbol "p". This operator acts on the wavefunction and gives the momentum as a result.
No, according to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, it is impossible to determine both the position and momentum of a particle with 100% accuracy. There will always be some degree of uncertainty in the measurement of momentum from a wavefunction.
The momentum of a wavefunction is directly proportional to its wavelength. This means that as the wavelength increases, the momentum also increases.
Determining momentum from a wavefunction is important in understanding the behavior of particles at the quantum level. It allows us to make predictions about the motion and interactions of particles, and is essential in many areas of physics, such as quantum mechanics and atomic physics.