Quantum mechanics

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For a more accessible and less technical introduction to this topic, see Introduction to
quantum mechanics.

Wavefunctions of the electron in a hydrogen atom at different energy levels. Quantum mechanics cannot
predict the exact location of a particle in space, only the probability of finding it at different locations. [1] The
brighter areas represent a higher probability of finding the electron.

Part of a series on

Quantum mechanics

Schrödinger equation

 Introduction
 Glossary
 History

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Quantum mechanics (QM; also known as quantum physics, quantum theory,

the wave mechanical model and matrix mechanics), including quantum field theory,
is a fundamental theory in physics describing the properties of nature on
an atomic scale.[2]
Classical physics, the description of physics that existed before the formulation of
the theory of relativity and of quantum mechanics, describes many aspects of nature at
ordinary (macroscopic) scale. Quantum mechanics explains the aspects of nature at
ordinary (macroscopic) scales but extends this description to the small
(atomic and subatomic) scales. 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).[note 1]
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. Early
quantum theory was profoundly re-conceived in the mid-1920s by 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

 1History
 2Mathematical formulations
 3Mathematically equivalent formulations
 4Relation to other scientific theories
o 4.1Relation to classical physics
 o 4.2Copenhagen interpretation of quantum versus classical kinematics
o 4.3Relation to general relativity
o 4.4Attempts at a unified field theory
 5Philosophical implications
 6Applications
o 6.1Electronics
o 6.2Cryptography
o 6.3Quantum computing
o 6.4Macroscale quantum effects
o 6.5Quantum theory
 7Examples
o 7.1Free particle
o 7.2Particle in a box
o 7.3Finite potential well
o 7.4Rectangular potential barrier
o 7.5Harmonic oscillator
o 7.6Step potential
 8See also
 9Notes
 10References
 11Further reading
 12External links

History[edit]
Modern physics

Manifold dynamics: Schrödinger and Klein–Gordon equations

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Main article: History of quantum mechanics
Scientific inquiry into the wave nature of light began in the 17th and 18th centuries,
when scientists such as Robert Hooke, Christiaan Huygens and Leonhard
Euler proposed a wave theory of light based on experimental observations. [5] In 1803,
English polymath Thomas Young described the famous double-slit experiment.[6] This
experiment pl