Godfrey: > My point, if I can break it down a bit, > is that the amplitudes correspond, > not to "things" but to processes > and that what the amplitudes let you > compute are relative probabilities for > the occurrences of such processes.
Maybe. Amplitudes of (whatever) waves satisfy linear equations. So, amplitudes combine linearly when several paths are - in principle - possible. On the contrary, the intensity of waves, that is to say the energy flux, is quadratic in the field amplitudes. So, intensities do not combine linearly. If we imagine there is a relation between the energy flux and the number of particles crossing a given (unit) area (this can be the quantum principle, or the quantum postulate) we also imagine there is a relation between the energy flux - quadratic in the field amplitudes - and the probability for those particles crossing that (unit) area. We can also imagine now there is only one particle flying .... Regards, serafino
