QM Vis

Visualization of Quantum Mechanical Phenomena

Quantum mechanics deals with models very different from classical mechanics and accordingly requires specific visualization. The objects of classical mechanics are point-like particles which are completely characterized by their positions and momenta. A classical particle could be visualized by a point in 3-space with an arrow attached to this point to indicate its momentum. The evolution in time, i.e. the particle's trajectory, could be represented by a curve in 3-space.

In contrast to classical mechanics, quantum mechanics characterizes the state of a system statistically. Quantum mechanical descriptions neither provide a pointlike position nor a curvelike trajectory. The state of a single particle is represented by a complex valued wave function which contains two independent probability densities for position and momentum of the particle. This is much more information to visualize than in the classical case. Instead of two vectors for particle position and momentum we are confronted with two scalar fields in 3-space.

Further information is available in the detailed project description.


Members
     Johannes Schmidt-Ehrenberg
     Hans-Christian Hege

Responsible
     Peter Deuflhard

Partners
     European Union under European Regional Development Fund (EFRE)

Duration:  1998 - 1999