Complex Numbers in Quantum Mechanics

Richard Behiel
2 May 202319:57

Summary

TLDR量子力学是一个复杂且令人困惑的学科,这部分原因在于量子世界中存在一些难以想象的奇异现象。量子力学之所以复杂,还因为其中充满了复杂的数字,尤其是复数的使用。视频脚本解释了为什么在量子力学中使用复数是有意义的,尽管一开始这可能令人困惑。复数可以看作是二维的数字,它们不仅包含大小,还包含方向,这与实数系统不同。视频通过波的概念来解释复数,展示了如何使用复数来表示波形,并解释了复数的加法和乘法如何与波的干涉相关。此外,还提到了复数在量子力学中的其他应用,如量子谐振子和量子场论。最后,视频强调了理解复数在量子力学中的重要性,并鼓励观众继续探索这一领域。

Takeaways

  • 🧮 **量子力学的复杂性**:量子力学之所以复杂,部分原因是它涉及的现象难以想象,并且使用了大量的复数。
  • 🤔 **复数的必要性**:复数在量子力学中用于描述具有幅度和相位的波函数,这些是实数无法充分描述的。
  • 📈 **复数与波的关系**:复数可以表示为具有固定幅度和变化相位的波,这与量子力学中的波函数概念紧密相关。
  • 🌀 **复数的二维性**:复数的二维性来自它们可以表示波的正负以及所有中间状态,这与实数的二元性(正或负)形成对比。
  • 📐 **复数的几何意义**:复数可以被视为复平面上的点,其中实部和虚部分别代表幅度和相位。
  • 🔍 **复数与波的叠加**:通过复数的加法和乘法,可以模拟波的干涉和衍射现象,这对于理解和计算量子系统中的粒子行为至关重要。
  • 🌟 **欧拉公式的应用**:欧拉公式(e^{i\theta} = \cos(\theta) + i\sin(\theta))提供了复数和三角函数之间的联系,并在量子力学中广泛使用。
  • 🚀 **量子力学中的动态现象**:通过复数的叠加和干涉,可以观察到量子系统中的概率密度随时间变化的动态现象。
  • 🧲 **电磁学与量子电动力学**:在量子电动力学中,波函数的局部U(1)对称性意味着电磁学,这是通过复数的相位变化来描述的。
  • 🌌 **高维复数波函数**:在量子场论中,可以使用高维复数波函数作为傅里叶基底来构建更复杂的波函数,满足量子力学方程。
  • 📖 **学习复数的重要性**:熟悉复数需要时间和实践,但它们是理解和应用量子力学的基础。

Q & A

  • 量子力学为什么使用复数而不是实数?

    -量子力学使用复数是因为复数提供了一种两维的数学结构,这与量子系统中的波函数特性相吻合。复数不仅包含大小(幅度),还包含方向(相位),这使得它们能够描述量子态的相位变化,而这是实数所不能做到的。

  • 复数的主要特征是什么?

    -复数的主要特征是它们是两维的,具有大小(幅度)和方向(相位)。复数可以看作是实数(正数和负数)的概括,允许数字不仅在正负数轴上,还可以在两者之间的所有数轴上。

  • 如何用复数表示波?

    -复数可以用来表示波,因为它们能够捕捉波的幅度和相位。一个复数波形可以表示为 e^(iΘ) 的形式,其中 Θ 是一个关于位置和时间的函数。复数的实部和虚部分别对应于波的实部和虚部,可以描述波的干涉现象。

  • 欧拉公式是什么?它与复数波有什么联系?

    -欧拉公式是 e^(iΘ) = cos(Θ) + i*sin(Θ),它表明了复指数函数与三角函数之间的关系。在复数波的上下文中,欧拉公式提供了一种将复数波分解为其实部和虚部的方法,从而更好地理解波的行为。

  • 复数加法和乘法的物理意义是什么?

    -复数加法可以模拟波的叠加,包括构造性干涉和破坏性干涉。复数乘法则涉及到波的幅度乘法和相位角的加法,这可以用来描述波的相位变化。在量子力学中,这些操作与粒子的波函数演化密切相关。

  • 为什么在量子力学中,复数的实部和虚部都重要?

    -在量子力学中,复数的实部和虚部都重要,因为它们共同描述了量子态的完整信息。实部和虚部的平方和给出了概率密度,这是预测实验结果的关键。此外,虚部对于描述量子态的相位和干涉效应至关重要。

  • 量子谐振子中的基态和激发态如何通过复数叠加形成粒子的波函数?

    -在量子谐振子中,基态和激发态的波函数可以相加形成叠加态,这个叠加态随时间演化会产生变化的概率密度。通过复数叠加,可以得到一个随时间变化的波函数,这反映了量子系统的动态行为。

  • 为什么说复数在量子场论中扮演了基本的构成角色?

    -复数在量子场论中通过平面波和量子化的场的叠加,构成了复杂的量子场。平面波作为基本的波函数解,可以叠加形成满足量子场方程的更复杂的波函数,这是量子场论中粒子创造和湮灭过程的基础。

  • 复数的两维性在物理空间中代表什么?

    -复数的两维性并不代表物理空间中的两个独立方向。它们代表的是波函数的幅度和相位,这两个维度描述了波的完整特性。在量子力学中,复数的这种两维性与波函数的干涉和衍射现象直接相关。

  • 为什么说复数在量子力学中是描述粒子状态的理想工具?

    -复数能够描述量子态的幅度和相位,这对于捕捉量子系统的动态特性至关重要。复数的这种特性使得它们能够以一种简洁和统一的方式描述量子态的叠加、干涉和演化,这些都是量子力学的核心概念。

  • 量子力学中,波函数的模方代表什么?

    -在量子力学中,波函数的模方(即波函数与其共轭的乘积)代表概率密度,它描述了在某个位置或某个状态下找到粒子的概率。这是量子力学中概率解释的核心,用于预测实验结果。

Outlines

00:00

🤔 量子力学与复数的困惑

第一段主要讨论了量子力学的复杂性,特别是复数在量子力学中的应用。作者表达了最初对于为什么物理理论中使用复数而非实数的困惑,并解释了复数的二维性质,即复数不仅包含大小(magnitude)还包含方向(direction)。通过类比波的概念,说明了复数如何用来描述波的动态变化,以及复数如何通过欧拉公式与三角函数联系起来。

05:00

📐 复数的数学操作及其物理意义

第二段深入探讨了复数的加法和乘法运算,并说明了这些数学操作如何与波的干涉现象相联系。作者通过动画展示了复数加法的几何意义,并解释了复数乘法如何改变一个波的相位。此外,还讨论了如何通过复数来表示波的叠加,并引入了傅里叶分析的概念,说明了复数在量子力学中的应用,如量子谐振子中的基态和激发态的叠加。

10:01

🌈 复数与波函数的可视化

第三段通过一个二维平面波的例子,展示了复数在量子力学中如何用于描述波函数。作者指出,尽管复数是二维的,但它们并不对应于物理空间中的某个方向,而是描述波在空间中的振荡。此外,还讨论了平面波在量子力学中的应用,如作为傅里叶基底构建更复杂的波函数,以及在量子场论中的重要性。

15:02

🔍 复数在量子力学中的深层含义

第四段总结了视频的主要内容,并强调了复数在量子力学中的直观理解和深层含义。作者指出,复数不仅仅是数学工具,它们与波函数的性质紧密相关,如量子叠加和概率密度。此外,还提到了量子电动力学中的一个重要概念,即波函数的局部U(1)对称性如何暗示电磁学的存在,这是一个深刻的物理概念,将在未来的视频中进一步探讨。

Mindmap

Keywords

The video is abnormal, and we are working hard to fix it.
Please replace the link and try again.

Highlights

量子力学是一个复杂且令人困惑的学科,部分原因在于量子世界中确实存在一些难以想象的奇异现象。

量子力学之所以复杂,部分原因是因为到处都有复杂的数字,尤其是复数的使用。

复数被定义为二维数字,这在初次接触时可能看起来很不合理,但它们是量子力学中我们想要使用的数字。

复数可以看作是正负二元性的概括,允许数字不仅在正或负数轴上,还可以在两者之间的所有数轴上。

复数不是用于计数,而是用于捕捉波动现象,如海浪、声波或光波。

通过欧拉公式 e^(iΘ) = cos(Θ) + i*sin(Θ),我们可以将复数波形视为具有恒定振幅和变化相位的波。

复数的加法和乘法与波的干涉直接相关,这在量子力学中非常重要。

通过泰勒级数展开,可以证明 e^(iΘ) 确实是 cos(Θ) + i*sin(Θ),这有助于理解复数波形。

复数乘法通过乘以它们的振幅和相位角的和来实现,这在量子力学中用于表示波函数的相位变化。

量子力学中的波函数可以表示为不同能量本征函数的叠加,这些叠加会产生随时间变化的概率密度。

平面波是量子力学中常见的解,它们可以作为傅里叶基底来构建更复杂的波函数。

在量子场论中,平面波在二次量子化中起着基本的构成作用,允许构建量子场理论。

复数的二维性并不是指物理空间中的任何方向,而是指波的上下或左右等方向。

复数与其共轭的乘积总是落在实数线上,这在量子力学中用于表示波函数的幅度平方。

在量子力学中,波函数的幅度平方 PSI*PSI 与找到粒子的概率密度有关。

量子电动力学中,波函数的局部 U(1) 对称性意味着电磁学,这是一个深刻而美丽的概念。

理解和熟练掌握复数需要时间,通过绘制方程式和解决问题来逐渐建立直觉。

Transcripts

play00:03

quantum mechanics is a notoriously

play00:06

complicated and confusing subject and

play00:09

part of that is for good reason I mean

play00:10

there really are these crazy phenomena

play00:12

happening in the quantum worlds that are

play00:14

challenging to imagine but uh one of the

play00:17

reasons quantum mechanics is complicated

play00:19

is that there are all these complex

play00:21

numbers all over the place and at first

play00:24

when you're getting into the subject

play00:25

it's very confusing why are we using

play00:27

complex numbers what do they mean why

play00:29

can't we use real numbers isn't this

play00:31

physics not math what why do we use

play00:33

these crazy numbers right so that was

play00:36

the source of confusion for me at least

play00:38

for quite a long period of time and then

play00:40

one day it clicked and I finally

play00:42

understood and I was like oh okay yeah

play00:43

actually that complex numbers are what

play00:45

we want to use in quantum mechanics so

play00:48

what are the complex numbers anyway

play00:50

I think the most defining feature of the

play00:52

complex numbers is that they're a

play00:54

two-dimensional number and that seems

play00:58

scandalous but if you've been using the

play01:00

real number line then you're already

play01:02

kind of complicit in using a

play01:04

two-dimensional number system sort of

play01:07

because when you write a real number you

play01:09

write its magnitude but you also assign

play01:12

it to one of the two number Rays either

play01:14

positive or negative

play01:15

so you already have this sense of

play01:17

magnitude and direction in your number

play01:19

system it's just that you only have two

play01:21

options for the direction positive or

play01:23

negative so the direction dimension of

play01:25

the real numbers is just a discrete

play01:27

binary thing rather than a continuous

play01:30

thing

play01:31

and all the complex numbers really are

play01:33

is a generalization of that positive

play01:36

negative binary that is the complex

play01:38

numbers can be regarded as a

play01:40

generalization of positivity and

play01:42

negativity so that a number can be not

play01:44

only on either the positive or negative

play01:46

number Ray but also all of the number

play01:48

rays in between

play01:50

this is a very strange concept the first

play01:52

time you see it

play01:54

now if you're mostly used to using

play01:56

numbers to count things this seems like

play01:58

an affront to reason because after all

play02:00

if you consider the number two for

play02:02

example so you could have positive two

play02:04

you could have negative two

play02:06

but with the complex numbers you could

play02:07

also have this two that's just somewhere

play02:11

in this space of this somewhere in this

play02:13

circle that has radius two the number

play02:15

with magnitude 2 in the complex plane

play02:18

can be at any one of these points

play02:20

and that doesn't seem right because

play02:22

you'll notice when two is up just purely

play02:26

pointing straight up then it's neither

play02:29

positive nor negative and yet it's still

play02:31

two it still has the amplitude of two

play02:34

uh that doesn't really fit into our

play02:37

normal intuitions about counting right

play02:39

it doesn't feel like it makes sense okay

play02:42

but complex numbers are not about

play02:44

counting in this kind of way

play02:47

let's look at this

play02:49

this is a wave what kind of wave I don't

play02:52

know could be the surface of the ocean

play02:54

it could be a sound wave where the

play02:56

height represents the air pressure it

play02:58

could be a wave of light just flopping

play03:00

around in the electromagnetic field

play03:01

whatever it is it's just a wave now this

play03:04

is a very clean and pure wave that I'm

play03:06

using to illustrate the point but it's a

play03:07

wave nonetheless

play03:08

so how can we use numbers to capture

play03:10

what this wave is

play03:12

well the first and most obvious thing is

play03:15

if the wave is above the average level

play03:18

if the wave is up we'll say it's a

play03:20

positive number and if the wave is down

play03:22

we'll say it's a negative number so

play03:24

let's go ahead and color it in positive

play03:25

and negative all right fair enough

play03:27

that's not wrong

play03:29

but let's pause time for a second

play03:31

now look here

play03:33

right at the point where the wave is

play03:35

zero and going down

play03:37

is that point really zero or does that

play03:39

point exist in a harmonious Continuum

play03:41

with the rest of the wave yeah it's zero

play03:43

now but it's part of a bigger picture

play03:45

and you know it's just gonna be changing

play03:47

soon you know it'll soon be non-zero so

play03:49

is that really zero in the same way that

play03:51

a flat line is zero or does it somehow

play03:54

have an amplitude even though it's also

play03:56

kind of zero at the same time so do you

play03:59

see an analogy between this thing that's

play04:01

kind of zero and kind of not zero and

play04:03

the example we were looking at earlier

play04:05

when the two was pointing straight up

play04:07

and it was also kind of zero and kind of

play04:09

not zero now what's more look at this

play04:11

point over here where it's also zero but

play04:13

now it's going up all of the same

play04:15

observations apply it's kind of zero but

play04:17

it's not really it has some energy to it

play04:19

even though it's zero it kind of is kind

play04:21

of isn't so now we can see that this

play04:23

number here is the opposite of the

play04:25

previous number that we were looking at

play04:26

because the previous one is on its way

play04:28

down and this one is on its way up

play04:33

let's transform our perspective and use

play04:37

complex numbers to represent this wave

play04:39

[Music]

play04:45

this is what a complex wave looks like

play04:47

notice that the amplitude is constant

play04:50

and it's just the phase that's changing

play04:52

so it's not moving up and down like the

play04:55

other wave now this is a very pure wave

play04:57

this is a wave of the form e to the I

play05:00

Theta where in this case Theta is some

play05:02

function of X and some function of time

play05:06

now let's plot the real part of this

play05:08

complex number that is how far left or

play05:11

right the number is in the complex plane

play05:13

and you'll see that we can recover that

play05:15

wave we were looking at earlier

play05:18

let's show the imaginary component of

play05:21

this complex wave that is how far up and

play05:23

down the wave is in the complex plane

play05:25

and you'll notice here we get a wave

play05:27

that looks very similar to the real part

play05:29

but it's out of phase such that it takes

play05:32

on maximum and minimum values when the

play05:34

real part is at zero and vice versa by

play05:37

the way the function e to the I Theta is

play05:39

equal to cosine of theta plus I times

play05:42

the sine of theta where I is the

play05:44

imaginary unit this equation is known as

play05:46

Euler's formula well one of his many

play05:48

formulas and it gives us another way of

play05:50

thinking about what this complex wave is

play05:52

when you're first getting into complex

play05:55

numbers you'll probably think about

play05:57

Euler's formula as the definition of

play05:59

what e to the I Theta is but as you

play06:01

become more comfortable with e to the I

play06:02

Theta you'll eventually just see that as

play06:04

the wave and then the cosine and sine is

play06:06

a way of splitting it up into the real

play06:08

Parts in the imaginary part by the way

play06:10

let me just quickly say on the topic of

play06:12

the imaginary part imaginary numbers are

play06:15

a misnomer okay they're just as real or

play06:17

just as imaginary as the real number

play06:18

members the complex numbers are

play06:20

numerical structure they're a holistic

play06:21

thing you know it doesn't make any sense

play06:23

to say imaginary and real but whatever

play06:25

this is the terminology you're stuck

play06:26

with so it is what it is ultimately it's

play06:29

a consequence of the fact that the

play06:31

imaginary numbers were named before they

play06:33

were understood and that's I think one

play06:35

of Descartes greatest mistakes well that

play06:37

in dualism but um anyway where were we

play06:40

what are we talking about here to

play06:42

understand why it's useful to be able to

play06:44

represent a wave as a constant amplitude

play06:46

complex number whose phase is changing

play06:48

we'll have to take a look at the nature

play06:50

of complex addition multiplication and

play06:53

how this relates to wave interference

play06:55

we'll do that in a moment but first I

play06:57

want to make a quick comment about why

play06:59

is it e to the I Theta gives us this

play07:02

wave I don't have time in this video to

play07:04

give a really satisfactory answer but I

play07:07

can lead you in the right direction so

play07:09

if you take derivatives of e to the I

play07:11

Theta and and sine of theta and cosine

play07:13

of theta you can write these functions

play07:15

in terms of a Taylor series when you do

play07:18

that you'll find that e to the I Theta

play07:20

has a term of theta at every degree

play07:22

whereas cosine has even terms and sine

play07:25

has odd terms and if you look closely at

play07:28

these series you can see that the terms

play07:30

on the right hand side of the equation

play07:31

zip together into the terms on the left

play07:34

hand side of the equation so by taking

play07:36

Taylor series you can prove to yourself

play07:37

that in fact e to the I Theta is cosine

play07:40

of theta plus I sine of theta

play07:42

okay so that was a bit of a tangent but

play07:44

I think it's important for you to know

play07:45

now let's take a look at complex Edition

play07:51

if we have any two complex numbers we

play07:54

can add them just like their vectors so

play07:57

we put them tail to tip or another way

play07:59

of looking at it is the sum is the

play08:01

diagonal of the parallelogram so here

play08:03

I'm showing two complex numbers both of

play08:05

which have magnitude 2 swinging around

play08:07

in the complex plane

play08:09

the complex number between them is their

play08:12

sum and you'll see that since the

play08:14

numbers both have magnitude 2 their sum

play08:16

has a magnitude of anywhere from zero to

play08:19

four zero when the two numbers are

play08:22

perfectly out of phase four when the

play08:24

numbers are perfectly in phase and some

play08:27

intermediary value when the angles are

play08:29

kind of in phase and kind of not in

play08:31

phase and we'll see later how that has a

play08:34

very close relationship to the idea of

play08:36

constructive and destructive

play08:37

interference in Waves by the way here's

play08:40

the algebraic formula for complex

play08:42

Edition and that's the same as adding

play08:44

vectors like the animation shows

play08:47

now let's let one of those twos become a

play08:48

little bit longer and you can see a more

play08:51

General representation of complex

play08:52

addition and you still see this effect

play08:55

where sometimes the numbers will align

play08:56

with each other and will add it's the

play08:58

magnitude sometimes they'll be

play09:00

oppositely aligned and they'll sort of

play09:01

destructively interfere so that's a

play09:03

general phenomenon whenever you're

play09:04

adding complex numbers

play09:06

and we can also multiply any two complex

play09:09

numbers so to multiply complex numbers

play09:11

you multiply their amplitudes and you

play09:14

add their phase angles relative to the

play09:16

positive real number line so here I'm

play09:18

showing a couple numbers both with

play09:20

magnitude two they're swinging around in

play09:22

the complex plane and I'm also showing

play09:23

their product you'll notice that since

play09:26

the two numbers both have magnitude 2

play09:27

their product will always have magnitude

play09:29

4 but the phase angle of their product

play09:32

depends on the sum of the phase angles

play09:35

of the individual twos and of course

play09:37

that rule generalizes so any two complex

play09:40

numbers to multiply them you multiply

play09:42

their magnitudes and add to their phase

play09:43

angles that's really useful because what

play09:46

it means is that if we have a complex

play09:48

number of unit length but some phase

play09:50

angle in the plane we can multiply that

play09:53

by some other complex number to shift

play09:55

its phase by the unit 1 numbers phase

play09:58

angle to demonstrate this idea of

play10:01

rotating the phase of a complex number

play10:03

by multiplying by a unit length complex

play10:05

number consider the illustration that's

play10:07

on your screen now here I have a blue

play10:10

wave and that's the real part of the

play10:12

function e to the i x so the classic

play10:14

complex wave amplitude 1 function you

play10:17

take the real part and it's basically

play10:18

it's just cosine of x right now the wave

play10:21

that's changing colors that's the same

play10:23

function that's the real part of the

play10:25

same function except now the function is

play10:27

multiplied by some complex constant

play10:30

let's call it a a has magnitude one but

play10:33

its phase angle is changing so I'm

play10:35

showing you here the blue line with the

play10:38

dot at the end that's the number one in

play10:40

the complex plane right the colorful

play10:43

line with the dot at the end that's a

play10:45

that's this unit length complex number

play10:47

whose phase is swinging around and the

play10:49

colorful wave that's changing color

play10:51

that's the real part of the wave that

play10:54

you get when you multiply by the complex

play10:55

number a

play10:57

now let's notice something when a is one

play11:00

the two numbers overlap and the two

play11:02

waves are the same

play11:04

when a is negative one the two waves are

play11:07

completely opposite so the sign of the

play11:09

wave is switching at every moment what

play11:10

was formerly up is now down and so on

play11:12

but in all those angles in between the

play11:15

waves are not just the same or not just

play11:17

totally opposite but they're similar

play11:19

their phase shifted by some amount

play11:20

that's not a complete half wavelength

play11:22

and so in this illustration you can see

play11:25

how this notion of generalizing

play11:26

positivity and negativity that we see in

play11:29

the complex numbers actually has a

play11:31

genuine natural a very real

play11:33

interpretation we can see this even more

play11:36

clearly if we put the sum of the two

play11:37

waves into this illustration as well

play11:40

now we can think about addition of waves

play11:42

in two ways first you can sweep along

play11:44

the x-axis and just add the value of the

play11:46

two waves at any point and that gives

play11:48

you the value of the third wave or you

play11:50

can add the complex amplitudes of the

play11:52

Waves you get a resulting complex number

play11:54

that's the sum of those complex numbers

play11:56

and then you multiply that by the way of

play11:59

e to the IX and that gives you the sum

play12:01

of the two waves so you see there's this

play12:03

direct one-to-one relationship between

play12:05

complex addition and the interference of

play12:08

these waves

play12:10

if you've studied signal processing then

play12:12

you know that you can generate an

play12:14

arbitrary waveform by adding sine waves

play12:16

and cosine waves in the right amounts

play12:18

and frequencies while complex numbers

play12:20

let us create a more unified and

play12:21

holistic way of doing Fourier analysis

play12:23

by adding waveforms that are these e to

play12:26

the i x kind of waves multiplied by a

play12:29

complex coefficient and then summing

play12:31

over frequencies and amplitudes in that

play12:33

basis so the example I'm showing here of

play12:35

generating a square wave you might

play12:36

associate that more with like signal

play12:39

processing or something in quantum

play12:41

mechanics however we use the idea of

play12:43

basis functions and superpositions all

play12:45

the time consider for example the

play12:47

quantum harmonic oscillator I already

play12:49

made a video on the quantum harmonic

play12:51

oscillator so I'm not going to rehash

play12:53

all of the details here if you want to

play12:55

see like the hamiltonian and Trojan's

play12:57

equation and all that good stuff you can

play12:58

check out that video but what I just

play13:00

want to point out here is that we can

play13:02

take this sum of energy eigenfunctions

play13:05

the ground state and these few excited

play13:07

States and if we add them all up we can

play13:09

get the wave function of a particle

play13:11

that's oscillating in the quantum

play13:12

harmonic oscillator

play13:14

and this is just one of the many ways

play13:16

that these basis functions can be added

play13:17

but when you look at it one thing to

play13:19

notice is that if you just look at the

play13:21

probability densities of each of the

play13:23

energy eigenstates they're actually

play13:24

stationary but when you add the

play13:27

eigenstates because you're adding the

play13:28

complex numbers and there's that complex

play13:30

interference going on the subsequent

play13:32

probability density of the sum of those

play13:35

States the superposition of those States

play13:37

is actually this thing that varies in

play13:39

time

play13:40

and so here we can see this cool kind of

play13:42

Dynamics coming out of the Machinery of

play13:44

complex numbers

play13:45

my main point in this video is just to

play13:48

get you familiar with the complex

play13:49

numbers to show you that ultimately they

play13:51

come from this notion of waves and we'll

play13:53

see many examples of complex wave

play13:55

functions going forward for example I'm

play13:57

currently working on a video on the

play13:59

hydrogen atom and so here I'll show you

play14:01

just a little preview of that we have

play14:03

the longitudinal component of the

play14:05

hydrogen energy eigenstates so this is

play14:08

what you get when you solve the

play14:09

azimuthal equation you end up with the

play14:10

hemholz differential equation and you

play14:12

can derive the fact that hydrogen has

play14:14

this quantized magnetic number M which

play14:16

we learn about in chemistry from the

play14:18

fact that the wave function has to loop

play14:20

back in on itself as you go around

play14:21

anyway we'll come back to this later in

play14:23

the hydrogen video but for now I'd like

play14:25

to look at a higher dimensional example

play14:27

of a complex wave function

play14:30

so for example here's a two-dimensional

play14:32

plane Wave It's defined in the plane of

play14:34

your screen it's constant amplitude and

play14:37

the color represents the phase of the

play14:38

wave function at every point

play14:40

I've also superimposed these little

play14:42

arrows and what the arrows represent is

play14:45

numbers in the complex plane

play14:47

now I want to use this to illustrate a

play14:50

couple of points first when you look at

play14:52

a picture like this it almost looks like

play14:54

a vector field and there's a temptation

play14:57

to think that the complex numbers are

play14:58

embedded in this two-dimensional space

play15:00

and that their direction is sort of

play15:02

pointing in a direction in that space

play15:04

this is a common misconception and I had

play15:07

this misconception for a while when I

play15:09

was learning quantum mechanics because

play15:10

one of the things that confused me about

play15:12

complex numbers was they're

play15:13

two-dimensional right so why

play15:16

I mean if you have a three-dimensional

play15:19

wave function for example shouldn't you

play15:21

have like some kind of three-dimensional

play15:23

thing like how do you stick a

play15:24

two-dimensional Arrow at a point in

play15:26

space how does that even make sense but

play15:28

I hope that based on everything you've

play15:30

seen so far you realize that the

play15:32

two-dimensionality of the complex

play15:34

numbers actually is not about any

play15:36

direction in physical space

play15:38

the fact that the complex numbers are

play15:41

two-dimensional is the fact that a wave

play15:43

is up and down or left and right or back

play15:46

and forth or high pressure low pressure

play15:48

it's yin and yang when you see that then

play15:52

the confusion goes away okay so that's

play15:55

the first point the second point I want

play15:57

to bring up when it comes to plane waves

play15:58

is that these things you will see these

play16:00

all over the place why a couple of

play16:02

reasons one honestly it's kind of one of

play16:04

the easiest solutions to all these wave

play16:06

equations that you'll encounter in

play16:07

quantum mechanics but also it can be

play16:09

used as a Fourier basis to construct

play16:12

these more complicated wave functions

play16:14

like earlier when we looked at the

play16:15

square wave and you could see how you

play16:16

can make an arbitrary waveform by adding

play16:18

a bunch of waves well if you take a

play16:20

bunch of plane waves that satisfy for

play16:21

example the Schrodinger equation or the

play16:23

Klein Gordon equation or the Drac

play16:24

equation although in that case you have

play16:26

byspinner field it's more complicated

play16:27

but whatever if you have plane waves

play16:29

that satisfy some differential equation

play16:30

and you add them you take their

play16:32

superposition you can create these more

play16:34

complicated systems that also satisfy

play16:36

those equations and in fact in Quantum

play16:38

field Theory the plane waves play a

play16:40

essential constitutive role in the

play16:43

second quantization that allows you to

play16:44

actually make a Quantum field Theory

play16:49

oh I almost forgot but earlier when we

play16:51

were looking at the complex

play16:52

multiplication let's go back to that

play16:53

picture except now I'm showing you

play16:55

something special so these are two

play16:57

complex numbers that have amplitude 2

play16:59

and their product has amplitude four but

play17:02

notice this time the two numbers are

play17:05

complex conjugates of one another that

play17:07

means that the imaginary component has

play17:09

flipped sine in other words it's been

play17:10

mirrored about the real axis and so what

play17:12

we're seeing here is a number of times

play17:14

its complex conjugate and the result is

play17:17

always stuck on the real number line why

play17:19

is that well add the angles a complex

play17:22

number and its complex conjugate always

play17:24

have angles that add up such that you

play17:26

get back on the real axis and for that

play17:28

reason you'll often see the expression

play17:30

PSI star PSI as a way of expressing the

play17:33

amplitude squared of a complex number in

play17:36

quantum mechanics PSI star and PSI are

play17:39

very often the two slices of bread in an

play17:41

operator sandwich but when you see PSI

play17:44

star PSI without any operator in between

play17:46

just think of that as amplitude squared

play17:48

and by by the way if PSI is a wave

play17:50

function then PSI star PSI is the

play17:53

probability density relating to that

play17:55

wave function so if you want to find

play17:57

what's the probability of finding a

play17:59

particle in some volume of space you

play18:01

just integrate PSI star PSI over that

play18:03

volume of space that gives you the

play18:04

probability of finding the particle

play18:06

there

play18:07

okay I'm gonna end this video on a

play18:09

cliffhanger by alluding to one of my

play18:12

favorite ideas of all time which is

play18:13

beautiful and profound and it relates to

play18:16

the complex numbers and that is the idea

play18:18

that in Quantum electrodynamics a local

play18:21

U1 symmetry of the wave function implies

play18:23

electromagnetism this is going to take a

play18:26

while to unpack and I am going to come

play18:27

back to this in a future video it's

play18:29

probably going to take like an hour but

play18:30

we're really going to get into it and

play18:32

it's going to be awesome for now I'll

play18:33

just show you these equations if you

play18:35

know you know if you don't stay tuned

play18:36

but it's a pretty profound concept

play18:38

basically what it comes down to is that

play18:40

when you're doing Quantum

play18:42

electrodynamics you have a wave function

play18:43

it's actually kind of four-way functions

play18:45

in one but if you impose the condition

play18:48

that you can swing your wave function

play18:50

around in Phase space arbitrarily then

play18:52

what you'll find is that in order to

play18:54

keep the lagrangian density the same

play18:55

that is in order to not affect the laws

play18:57

of physics and Quantum electrodynamics

play18:59

you need the gauge symmetry of the

play19:01

electromagnetic 4 potential which is

play19:03

what we actually see right so the four

play19:04

potential is kind of like relativistic

play19:06

voltage and there's this inherent tree

play19:07

as a result of that which has to do with

play19:09

the way that the derivatives not Bonds

play19:10

the electrical Community Fields anyway

play19:12

if there's a lot there I'm not going to

play19:13

go into it now but just know that there

play19:15

are really deep and profound ideas

play19:16

relating to the complex numbers in

play19:18

quantum mechanics this video today

play19:19

really has only scratched the surface

play19:21

but I hope it's given you at least some

play19:23

intuition for the complex numbers

play19:25

one final thing that I want to say

play19:27

becoming familiar with the complex

play19:29

numbers takes time it takes hours and

play19:31

hours of like plotting equations and

play19:34

solving problems and doing things so

play19:36

you're not supposed to get the ideas

play19:37

right away no one ever does but uh you

play19:40

know hey a journey of a thousand miles

play19:42

is you know one footstep at a time or

play19:43

however that saying goes and I hope you

play19:45

keep on going on that path because

play19:47

physics is really one of the most

play19:48

wholesome things a person can do I think

play19:50

but maybe I'm biased all right well

play19:53

that's the video hope you enjoyed it and

play19:55

have a great day

Rate This

5.0 / 5 (0 votes)

相关标签
量子力学复数波动现象数学基础物理概念科学探索波函数薛定谔方程量子场论电磁学教育视频