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The Schrödinger equation is often presented using quantities varying as functions of position, but as a vector-operator equation it has a valid representation in any arbitrary complete basis of kets in Hilbert space. As mentioned above, "bases" that lie outside the physical Hilbert space are also employed for calculational purposes.
Position space (also real space or coordinate space) is the set of all position vectors r in Euclidean space, and has dimensions of length; a position vector defines a point in space. (If the position vector of a point particle varies with time, it will trace out a path, the trajectory of a particle.) Momentum space is the set of all momentum ...
The general form of wavefunction for a system of particles, each with position r i and z-component of spin s z i. Sums are over the discrete variable s z , integrals over continuous positions r . For clarity and brevity, the coordinates are collected into tuples, the indices label the particles (which cannot be done physically, but is ...
The derivation in three dimensions is the same, except the gradient operator del is used instead of one partial derivative. In three dimensions, the plane wave solution to Schrödinger's equation is: = and the gradient is = + + = (+ +) = where e x, e y, and e z are the unit vectors for the three spatial dimensions, hence ^ =
The quantum wave equation can be solved using functions of position, (), or using functions of momentum, () and consequently the superposition of momentum functions are also solutions: = + The position and momentum solutions are related by a linear transformation, a Fourier transformation. This transformation is itself a quantum superposition ...
This interaction is called an observation and is the essence of a measurement in quantum mechanics, which connects the wave function with classical observables such as position and momentum. Collapse is one of the two processes by which quantum systems evolve in time; the other is the continuous evolution governed by the Schrödinger equation. [2]
The position-space wave function of a single particle without spin in three spatial dimensions is similar to the case of one spatial dimension above: (,) where r is the position vector in three-dimensional space, and t is time. As always Ψ(r, t) is a complex-valued function of real variables.
The equation itself usually refers to the position space form, where it can be written in terms of separated space and time components ( , ) or by combining them into a four-vector = ( , ) . By Fourier transforming the field into momentum space, the solution is usually written in terms of a superposition of plane waves whose energy and momentum ...