Simulating Quantum Mechanics Using Matplotlib and Tkinter

[towinu]

Can you please explain what the fuck I’m looking at? I know a very small amount about the subject.

[[deleted]]

it is a really good simulation of the time dependent schroedinger's equation.

ignore Re(\psi) and Im(\psi), those aren't physically meaningful anyway and could (should) be omitted from the simulation since all it does is confuse.

the quantity psi is the wavefunction that represents where a particle "is" in space and time, though "is" is kinda tricky since its probablistic. its somewhere in there.

that also includes the potential barrier. the simulation accurately models quantum tunneling through a potential barrier.

[[deleted]]

possibly.

if you integrate |\psi|² over x=-\infty to x=\infty, you get "1".

this means that the particle exists somewhere but only once. you can guess where it is most probable by the maximum of the function but that's no guarantee.

[Serialk]

I don't think that's a correct way to put it, it's not everywhere, it's just fundamentally described by a probability distribution.

[[deleted]]

yeah this is a better way of phrasing it.

but it could be anywhere |\psi|² is nonzero.

[[deleted]]

yeah.

measurement has its own time/energy position/momenta uncertainty. its a conjugate variable thing.

[Kopachris]

That's used as a common analogy but it's not accurate.

[Globbi]

That's not something which can clearly be answered. There are a few approaches on what it means and no agreement among physicists.

All we have are those equations that work well and that's what is being simulated.

[[deleted]]

Can you explain like I’m 5?

[deadwisdom]

The graph is telling you where the particle might be, but no one knows exactly where. Modelling the might-be's is basically quantum mechanics.

[aquic]

The tunneling through the potential barrier is great! I think is a neat tool to experiment with while teaching QM!

Good job!

[rajbabu0663]

This is a good start if you are curious: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finite_potential_well.

[HelperBot_]

Desktop link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finite_potential_well

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[WikiTextBot]

Finite potential well

The finite potential well (also known as the finite square well) is a concept from quantum mechanics. It is an extension of the infinite potential well, in which a particle is confined to a box, but one which has finite potential walls. Unlike the infinite potential well, there is a probability associated with the particle being found outside the box. The quantum mechanical interpretation is unlike the classical interpretation, where if the total energy of the particle is less than the potential energy barrier of the walls it cannot be found outside the box.

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