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You might be interested in Pilot Wave Theory. It tries to reconcile wave/particle duality by claiming there is a real physical particle at all times in an attem

You might be interested in Pilot Wave Theory. It tries to reconcile wave/particle duality by claiming there is a real physical particle at all times in an attempt to get around the strange idea of everything being a probablistic wavefunction (the Copenhagen interpretation). It explains some things pretty intuitively (double slit experiment), but from what I can tell it becomes too convoluted for other things. Mass can be related to energy with E=mc^2, and you can get some idea of its relation to wavelength and wave collisions. I think a smallest wavelength is unlikely, because it would put an upper bound on energy. The only side-effect of increasing the energy density (ie a lot of energy in a small space, like a very low-wavelength photon) is the formation of a black hole. I think the question of whether photons (massless) can form them is one of those quantum-gravity issues that are awaiting a theory.

perl4ever 8y ago
"You might be interested in Pilot Wave Theory. It tries to reconcile wave/particle duality by claiming there is a real physical particle at all times in an attempt to get around the strange idea of everything being a probablistic wavefunction (the Copenhagen interpretation)." I don't understand much of anything, but based on what I read, I strongly prefer the idea that everything is a field and particles don't exist, rather than vice versa. It just feels right. We don't experience particles any more than waves in our daily lives anyway.
- trentlott 8y ago
  That's probably the right side of history anyway. Pilot wave fails in a lot of ways, but it at least allows a way to express the anxiety of thinking "is that it?! Nobody thought of a better rationalization?!" You experience the properties of particles a little more directly...mostly in solution. It's easy to see why pilot wave is appealing...maybe, secretly, things are actually not crazy or incomprehensible at small scales and the universe makes sense! But even ignoring QM and looking out at the 13 billion light years of space above should make one ponder what right we had to get even this far
qubex 8y ago
Pilot Wave Theory has been disproved as a valid basis for the dual split experiment. https://www.quantamagazine.org/famous-experiment-dooms-pilot-wave-alternative-to-quantum-weirdness-20181011/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/famous-experiment-dooms-pilot...
- trentlott 8y ago
  Yeah, I don't see pilot wave as valid. I think it's wishful theorizing from people who can't take Copenhagen. There is also a divorcing of pilot wave from these particular visualizations - the emergent properties of fluids will always make them bad approximations. But the maths don't work out either, and it ends up getting too convoluted compared to the 'simpler' and weirder version. However, I think it's an interesting alternative that demonstrates why, at some level, you just kind of have to throw your hands up and say "well I guess that's just how reality works, dammit." There are less-crazy visions about how very small things work, but they don't do the job.

perl4ever 8y ago

"You might be interested in Pilot Wave Theory. It tries to reconcile wave/particle duality by claiming there is a real physical particle at all times in an attempt to get around the strange idea of everything being a probablistic wavefunction (the Copenhagen interpretation)." I don't understand much of anything, but based on what I read, I strongly prefer the idea that everything is a field and particles don't exist, rather than vice versa. It just feels right. We don't experience particles any more than waves in our daily lives anyway.

trentlott 8y ago
That's probably the right side of history anyway. Pilot wave fails in a lot of ways, but it at least allows a way to express the anxiety of thinking "is that it?! Nobody thought of a better rationalization?!" You experience the properties of particles a little more directly...mostly in solution. It's easy to see why pilot wave is appealing...maybe, secretly, things are actually not crazy or incomprehensible at small scales and the universe makes sense! But even ignoring QM and looking out at the 13 billion light years of space above should make one ponder what right we had to get even this far

qubex 8y ago

Pilot Wave Theory has been disproved as a valid basis for the dual split experiment. https://www.quantamagazine.org/famous-experiment-dooms-pilot-wave-alternative-to-quantum-weirdness-20181011/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/famous-experiment-dooms-pilot...

trentlott 8y ago
Yeah, I don't see pilot wave as valid. I think it's wishful theorizing from people who can't take Copenhagen. There is also a divorcing of pilot wave from these particular visualizations - the emergent properties of fluids will always make them bad approximations. But the maths don't work out either, and it ends up getting too convoluted compared to the 'simpler' and weirder version. However, I think it's an interesting alternative that demonstrates why, at some level, you just kind of have to throw your hands up and say "well I guess that's just how reality works, dammit." There are less-crazy visions about how very small things work, but they don't do the job.