Wednesday 14 November 2018

quantum mechanics - Can we write the wave function of the living things? If yes then how?



In quantum mechanics we studied that everything has a wave function associated with it.My question is can we write down the wave functions of things. Then how we can write down the wave functions of the things like animals, human eye, motion of snake etc.



Answer



There are 37.2 trillion cells in a typical human body, (probably a good few more in mine ;), then in each cell there are 20 trillion atoms, then you have to obtain the wave function for each of the electrons.......


Actually, it may well be that you cannot describe a wavefunction for a macroscopic object, like a human body. In the study of quantum mechanics, we are usually presented with the exercise of writing a wave equation for a single microscopic particle, an electron, proton and so on.



But a macroscopic object is "joined" to it's surroundings by entanglement, rather than the single electron wavefunctions we are used to deal with, which does not need to take account of this.


If two (or more) systems are entangled, such as the parts of our body and their surroundings, as in this case, then we cannot describe the wave function directly as a product of separate wavefunctions, as I implied incorrectly in my first line.


However, by the use of Reduced Density Matrices, as pointed out by Mitchell Porter below, we can describe entangled states. With the number of wave functions involved, this would theorically possible, but in practice, not a feasible option.


Incidentally, this may be one reason why the STAR TREK, "beam me aboard" transporter system may be rather difficult to achieve, but that is probably covered elsewhere on this site.


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