Quantum Chemistry 4.16 – Wavefunction Collapse

Short lecture on wavefunction collapse.

The superposition principle states that a general wavefunction can be expressed as a linear combination of the eigenfunctions of the Hamiltonian operator. Upon measurement of a property, we can only measure eigenvalues of the operator for that property. The probabilities of measurement are determined by the coefficients of each eigenfunction. After measurement, the wavefunction “collapses” into the eigenfunction whose eigenvalue was measured for the property. Any further measurement will yield the same eigenvalue and eigenfunction which was measured initially, as the superposition has been destroyed. This is referred to as the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics.

Notes Slide: http://i.imgur.com/K1DILYd.png

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