Quantum mechanics 

is a fundamental theory
in physics that provides a description of the
physical properties of nature at the scale
of atoms and subatomic particles.[2]:1.1 It is
the foundation of all quantum physics
including quantum chemistry, quantum field
theory, quantum technology, and quantum
information science.
Classical physics, the description of physics
that existed before the theory of
relativity and quantum mechanics, describes
many aspects of nature at an ordinary
(macroscopic) scale, while quantum
mechanics explains the aspects of nature at
small (atomic and subatomic) scales, for
which clásica mechanics is insufficient. Most
theories in classical physics can be derived
from quantum mechanics as an
approximation valid at large (macroscopic)
scale.[3]
Quantum mechanics differs from classical
physics in that energy, momentum, angular
momentum, and other quantities of a bound
system are restricted to discrete
values (quantization), objects have
characteristics of
both particles and waves (wave-particle
duality), and there are limits to how
accurately the value of a physical quantity
can be predicted prior to its measurement,
given a complete set of initial conditions
(the uncertainty principle).
Quantum mechanics arose gradually, from
theories to explain observations which could
not be reconciled with classical physics, such
as Max Planck's solution in 1900 to
the black-body radiation problem, and the
correspondence between energy and
frequency in Albert Einstein's 1905
paper which explained the photoelectric
effect. These early attempts to understand
microscopic phenomena, now known as the
"old quantum theory", led to the full
development of quantum mechanics in the
mid-1920s by Niels Bohr, Erwin
Schrödinger, Werner Heisenberg, Max
Born and others. The modern theory is
formulated in various specially developed
mathematical formalisms. In one of them, a
mathematical function, the wave function,
provides information about the probability
amplitude of energy, momentum, and other
physical properties of a particle.
 Contents
 1Overview and fundamental concepts
 2Mathematical formulation
o 2.1Uncertainty principle
o 2.2Composite systems and
entanglement
o 2.3Equivalence between
formulations
o 2.4Measurement
o 2.5Unitarity
 3Examples
o 3.1Free particle
o 3.2Particle in a box
o 3.3Harmonic oscillator
 4Applications
 5Relation to other scientific theories
o 5.1The correspondence principle
o 5.2Special relativity and
electrodynamics
o 5.3Attempts at a unified field
theory
o 5.4Relation to general relativity
 6Philosophical implications
  7History
 8See also
 9Notes
 10References
 11Further reading
 12External links
Overview and fundamental concepts[edit]
Quantum mechanics allows the calculation of
probabilities for how physical systems can
behave. It is typically applied to microscopic
systems: molecules, atoms and sub-atomic
particles. A basic mathematical feature of
quantum mechanics is that a probability is
found by taking the square of the absolute
value of a complex number, known as a
probability amplitude. This is known as
the Born rule, named after physicist Max
Born. For example, a quantum particle like
an electron can be described by a wave
function, which associates to each point in
space a probability amplitude. Applying the
Born rule to these amplitudes gives
a probability density function for the
position that the electron will be found to
have when an experiment is performed to
measure it. The Schrödinger equation relates
the collection of probability amplitudes that
pertain to one moment of time to the
collection of probability amplitudes that
pertain to another.
One consequence of the mathematical rules
of quantum mechanics is a tradeoff in
predictability between different measurable
quantities. The most famous form of
this uncertainty principle says that no matter
how a quantum particle is prepared or how
carefully experiments upon it are arranged,
it is impossible to have a precise prediction
for a measurement of its position and also
for a measurement of its momentum.
Another consequence of the mathematical
rules of quantum mechanics is the
phenomenon of quantum interference, which
is often illustrated with the double-slit
experiment. In the basic version of this
experiment, a coherent light source, such as
a laser beam, illuminates a plate pierced by
two parallel slits, and the light passing
through the slits is observed on a screen
behind the plate.[4]:102–111[2]:1.1–1.8 The wave
nature of light causes the light waves passing
through the two slits to interfere, producing
bright and dark bands on the screen – a
result that would not be expected if light
consisted of classical particles.[4] However,
the light is always found to be absorbed at
the screen at discrete points, as individual
particles rather than waves; the interference
pattern appears via the varying density of
these particle hits on the screen.
Furthermore, versions of the experiment
that include detectors at the slits find that
each detected photon passes through one slit
(as would a classical particle), and not
through both slits (as would a wave).[4]:109[5]
[6]
 However, such experiments demonstrate
that particles do not form the interference
pattern if one detects which slit they pass
through. Other atomic-scale entities, such
as electrons, are found to exhibit the same
behavior when fired towards a double slit.[2]
When quantum systems interact, the result
can be the creation of quantum
entanglement, a type of correlation in which
"the best possible knowledge of a whole"
does not imply "the best possible knowledge
of all its parts", as Erwin Schrödinger put it.
[7]
 Quantum entanglement can be a valuable
resource in communication protocols, as
demonstrated by quantum key distribution,
in which (speaking informally) the key used
to encrypt a message is created in the act of
observing it.[8] (Entanglement does not,
however, allow sending signals faster than
light.[8])
Another possibility opened by entanglement
is testing for "hidden variables",
hypothetical properties more fundamental
than the quantities addressed in quantum
theory itself, knowledge of which would
allow more exact predictions than quantum
theory can provide. A collection of results,
most significantly Bell's theorem, have
demonstrated that broad classes of such
hidden-variable theories are in fact
incompatible with quantum physics.
According to Bell's theorem, if nature
actually operates in accord with any theory
of local hidden variables, then the results of a
Bell test will be constrained in a particular,
quantifiable way. If a Bell test is performed
in a laboratory and the results are not thus
constrained, then they are inconsistent with
the hypothesis that local hidden variables
exist. Such results would support the position
that there is no way to explain the
phenomena of quantum mechanics in terms
of a more fundamental description of nature
that is more in line with the rules of classical
physics. Many types of Bell test have been
performed in physics laboratories, using
preparations that exhibit quantum
entanglement. To date, Bell tests have found
that the hypothesis of local hidden variables
is inconsistent with the way that physical
systems behave.[9][10]
Later sections in this article cover the
practical applications of quantum
mechanics, its relation to other physical
theories, the history of its development, and
its philosophical implications. It is not
possible to address these topics in more than
a superficial way without knowledge of the
actual mathematics involved. As mentioned
above, using quantum mechanics requires
manipulating complex numbers; it also
makes use of linear algebra, differential
equations, group theory, and other more
advanced subjects.[note 1] Accordingly, this
article will present a mathematical
formulation of quantum mechanics and
survey its application to some useful and oft-
studied examples.
Mathematical formulation[edit]
Main article: Mathematical formulation of
quantum mechanics
In the mathematically rigorous formulation
of quantum mechanics developed by Paul
Dirac,[13] David Hilbert,[14] John von
Neumann,[15] and Hermann Weyl,[16] the state
of a quantum mechanical system is a
vector  belonging to a (separable) Hilbert
space . This vector is postulated to be
normalized under the Hilbert's space inner
product, that is, it obeys , and it is well-
defined up to a complex number of modulus
1 (the global phase), that is,  and  represent
the same physical system. In other words, the
possible states are points in the projective
space of a Hilbert space, usually called
the complex projective space. The exact
nature of this Hilbert space is dependent on
the system – for example, for describing
position and momentum the Hilbert space is
the space of complex square-
integrable functions , while the Hilbert space
for the spin of a single proton is simply the
space of two-dimensional complex
vectors  with the usual inner product.
Physical quantities of interest - position,
momentum, energy, spin - are represented
by observables, which are Hermitian (more
precisely, self-adjoint)
linear operators acting on the Hilbert space.
A quantum state can be an eigenvector of an
observable, in which case it is called
an eigenstate, and the
associated eigenvalue corresponds to the
value of the observable in that eigenstate.
More generally, a quantum state will be a
linear combination of the eigenstates, known
as a quantum superposition. When an
observable is measured, the result will be one
of its eigenvalues with probability given by
the Born rule: in the simplest case the
eigenvalue  is non-degenerate and the
probability is given by , where  is its
associated eigenvector. More generally, the
eigenvalue is degenerate and the probability
is given by , where  is the projector onto its
associated eigenspace.
After the measurement, if result  was
obtained, the quantum state is postulated
to collapse to , in the non-degenerate case, or
to , in the general case.
The probabilistic nature of quantum
mechanics thus stems from the act of
measurement. This is one of the most
difficult aspects of quantum systems to
understand. It was the central topic in the
famous Bohr–Einstein debates, in which the
two scientists attempted to clarify these
fundamental principles by way of thought
experiments. In the decades after the
formulation of quantum mechanics, the
question of what constitutes a
"measurement" has been extensively
studied. Newer interpretations of quantum
mechanics have been formulated that do
away with the concept of "wave function
collapse" (see, for example, the many-worlds
interpretation). The basic idea is that when a
quantum system interacts with a measuring
apparatus, their respective wave functions
become entangled, so that the original
quantum system ceases to exist as an
independent entity. For details, see the
article on measurement in quantum
mechanics.[17]
The time evolution of a quantum state is
described by the Schrödinger equation:
Here  denotes the Hamiltonian, the
observable corresponding to the total
energy of the system. The constant  is
introduced so that the Hamiltonian is
reduced to the classical Hamiltonian in
cases where the quantum system can be
approximated by a classical system; the
ability to make such an approximation in
certain limits is called the correspondence
principle.
The solution of this differential equation is
given by
The operator  is known as the time-
evolution operator, and has the crucial
property that it is unitary. This time
evolution is deterministic in the sense
that – given an initial quantum state   – it
makes a definite prediction of what the
quantum state  will be at any later time.
[18]
 Fig. 1: Probability
densities corresponding to the wave
functions of an electron in a hydrogen
atom possessing definite energy levels
(increasing from the top of the image
to the bottom: n = 1, 2, 3, ...) and
angular momenta (increasing across
from left to right: s, p, d, ...). Denser
areas correspond to higher probability
density in a position measurement.
Such wave functions are directly
comparable to Chladni's
figures of acoustic modes of vibration
in classical physics and are modes of
oscillation as well, possessing a
sharp energy and thus, a
definite frequency. The angular
momentum and energy
are quantized and take only discrete
values like those shown (as is the case
for resonant frequencies in acoustics)
Some wave functions produce
probability distributions that are
independent of time, such as eigenstates
of the Hamiltonian. Many systems that
are treated dynamically in classical
mechanics are described by such "static"
wave functions. For example, a
single electron in an unexcited atom is
pictured classically as a particle moving
in a circular trajectory around
the atomic nucleus, whereas in quantum
mechanics, it is described by a static
wave function surrounding the nucleus.
For example, the electron wave function
for an unexcited hydrogen atom is a
spherically symmetric function known as
an s orbital (Fig. 1).
Analytic solutions of the Schrödinger
equation are known for very few
relatively simple model
Hamiltonians including the quantum
harmonic oscillator, the particle in a box,
the dihydrogen cation, and the hydrogen
atom. Even the helium atom – which
contains just two electrons – has defied
all attempts at a fully analytic treatment.
However, there are techniques for
finding approximate solutions. One
method, called perturbation theory, uses
the analytic result for a simple quantum
mechanical model to create a result for a
related but more complicated model by
(for example) the addition of a
weak potential energy. Another method
is called "semi-classical equation of
motion", which applies to systems for
which quantum mechanics produces
only small deviations from classical
behavior. These deviations can then be
computed based on the classical motion.
This approach is particularly important
in the field of quantum chaos.
Uncertainty principle[edit]
One consequence of the basic quantum
formalism is the uncertainty principle.
In its most familiar form, this states that
no preparation of a quantum particle
can imply simultaneously precise
predictions both for a measurement of
its position and for a measurement of its
momentum.[19][20] Both position and
momentum are observables, meaning
that they are represented by Hermitian
operators. The position operator  and
momentum operator  do not commute,
but rather satisfy the canonical
commutation relation:
Given a quantum state, the Born rule
lets us compute expectation values for
both  and , and moreover for powers of
them. Defining the uncertainty for an
observable by a standard deviation, we
have
and likewise for the momentum:
The uncertainty principle states
that