Named Experiments
Named experiments are entry points into the formalism. They motivate structures such as amplitudes, spin, measurement contexts, tensor products, and entanglement, but no single experiment derives the whole theory by itself.
Entries
Section titled “Entries”| Entry | Compact Lesson | Canonical Route |
|---|---|---|
| Double-Slit Experiment | Coherent alternatives interfere because amplitudes, not probabilities, add. | From Experiments to Formalism and Probability Amplitudes |
| Stern–Gerlach Experiment | Spin components have discrete outcomes and depend on the measurement axis. | What Spin Is and Measurement in the Formalism |
| Bell Test Experiments | Quantum correlations violate inequalities obeyed by local hidden-variable models under stated assumptions. | Entanglement and Foundations |
Reading Rule
Section titled “Reading Rule”For each experiment, separate:
- the actual measurement arrangement;
- the idealized model used in a textbook calculation;
- the formal lesson carried into quantum mechanics;
- the interpretive claims that require extra assumptions.
This avoids a common failure mode: turning a famous experiment into a slogan and losing the hypotheses that make the slogan true.
References
Section titled “References”- R. P. Feynman, R. B. Leighton, and M. Sands, The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Volume III, Addison-Wesley, 1965.
- J. J. Sakurai and J. Napolitano, Modern Quantum Mechanics, 3rd ed., Cambridge University Press, 2020.
- L. E. Ballentine, Quantum Mechanics: A Modern Development, 2nd ed., World Scientific, 2014.