X-Nico

unusual facts about wave function


Fourier optics

A "wide" wave moving forward (like an expanding ocean wave coming toward the shore) can be regarded as an infinite number of "plane wave modes", all of which could (when they collide with something in the way) scatter independently of one other.


Molecular orbital

If the molecule has some symmetry, the degenerate atomic orbitals (with the same atomic energy) are grouped in linear combinations (called symmetry-adapted atomic orbitals (SO)), which belong to the representation of the symmetry group, so the wave functions that describe the group are known as symmetry-adapted linear combinations (SALC).

Rutherford backscattering spectrometry

If the energy of the incident particle is increased sufficiently, the Coulomb barrier is exceeded and the wavefunctions of the incident and struck particles overlap.


see also

Copenhagen interpretation

# The description of nature is essentially probabilistic, with the probability of a given outcome of a measurement given by the square of the modulus of the amplitude of the wave function.

De Broglie–Bohm theory

According to Peter R. Holland, in a wider Hamiltonian framework, theories can be formulated in which particles do act back on the wave function.