8 ms·
> I would say that any state that we can't measure is not a physical state. Ok, so if I understand correctly for you microstates are not physical states and it
by kgwgk 2y ago
> I would say that any state that we can't measure is not a physical state.
Ok, so if I understand correctly for you microstates are not physical states and it doesn't make sense to even consider that at any given moment the system may be in a particular microstate. That's one way to look at things but the usual starting point for statistical mechanics is quite different.
- tsimionescu 2y agoThat would be a bit too strong a wording. I would just say that certain theoretical microstates (ones that assume that position and velocity and so on are real properties that particles possess and can be specified by infinitely precise numbers) are not in fact physically distinguishable. Physical microstates do exist, but they are subject to the Heisenberg limit, and possibly other, less well defined/determined precision limits. Beyond some level of precision, the world becomes fundamentally non-deterministic again, just like it appears in the macro state description.