From: *Lawrence Crowell* <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>>
On Friday, June 15, 2018 at 11:55:17 PM UTC-5, Brent wrote:
On 6/15/2018 6:46 AM, Lawrence Crowell wrote:
I might be wrong here, but my point is that energy occurs in
discrete eigenvalues and we never measure energy in between. With
spin for instance it occurs in any direction and is determined by
the orientation of a magnetic field I set. I do not tune some
variable to get the energy spectrum of an atom. There is
something odd about energy in both quantum mechanics and relativity.
But the energy of photons is a continuum.
Brent
I am not sure that changes the argument. Photons are often emitted by
systems with discrete energy levels or resonance scattering peaks.
Of course it makes a difference! I am amazed at the depth of the
confusion that seems to surround something as fundamental as
einselection of a preferred basis.
The fact that energy spectra of atoms and the like are discrete does not
change the fact that energy eigenvalues are a continuous set of delta
functions on the real line. And generally, when one is measuring atomic
spectra one determines energies by the deviation occasioned by a prism
or diffraction grating. In other words, one actually measures a position
on a screen, or a wavelength, which is also a position measurement.
Bruce
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