wave function
a solution of a wave equation.
(in quantum mechanics) a mathematical function, found by solving a quantum-mechanical wave equation, that is used to predict the outcome of measurements on physical systems.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use wave function in a sentence
Instead, the beams’ particles have wave functions that move in a corkscrewing motion as a beam travels through space.
New ‘vortex beams’ of atoms and molecules are the first of their kind | Emily Conover | September 2, 2021 | Science NewsWhen we then measured the wave function of the electrons, which describes their quantum state, we found that they too lived at the fractal dimension dictated by the physical pattern we’d made.
Can Consciousness Be Explained by Quantum Physics? New Research | Cristiane de Morais Smith | July 25, 2021 | Singularity HubIf you have the wave function of a substance and you know what kind of light pulse you’re using, you can predict the result — the expectation value — you’re going to get.
To do that, you also need to know the system’s wave function, or equivalently its Hamiltonian — which in general you don’t.
For a quantum mechanical system, the equivalent is to know how its quantum wave function evolves in time, which is determined by a mathematical function called the Hamiltonian.
British Dictionary definitions for wave function
physics a mathematical function of position and generally time, used in wave mechanics to describe the state of a physical system: Symbol: ψ
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for wave function
A mathematical function used in quantum mechanics to describe the propagation of the wave associated with a particle or group of particles. The wave function is a solution to Schrödinger's equation, given the boundary conditions that describe the physical system in which the particle is found. The square of the function evaluated at a given point in space is proportional to the probability of finding the particle in the immediate vicinity of that position.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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