The Mott problem is an iconic challenge to quantum mechanics theory: how can the prediction of spherically symmetric wave function result in linear tracks seen in a cloud chamber.[1]: 119ff The problem was first formulated in 1927 by Albert Einstein and Max Born and solved in 1929 by Nevill Francis Mott.[2] Mott's solution notably only uses the wave equation, not wavefunction collapse, and it is considered the earliest example of what is now called decoherence theory.[3]
- ^ Bell, J. (2004). Speakable and Unspeakable in Quantum Mechanics (2, revised, illustrated ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521523387.
- ^ "The wave mechanics of ∝-Ray tracks". Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Containing Papers of a Mathematical and Physical Character. 126 (800): 79–84. 1929-12-02. doi:10.1098/rspa.1929.0205. ISSN 0950-1207.
(Also reprinted as Sec.I-6 of Quantum Theory and Measurement, J.A. Wheeler. and W.H. Zurek, (1983) Princeton).
- ^ Figari, Rodolfo; Teta, Alessandro (March 2013). "Emergence of classical trajectories in quantum systems: the cloud chamber problem in the analysis of Mott (1929)". Archive for History of Exact Sciences. 67 (2): 215–234. arXiv:1209.2665. doi:10.1007/s00407-012-0111-z. ISSN 0003-9519.
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