It is a common, yet, difficult-to-answer question: if we are going deeper and deeper into the matter, when will we leave our ordinary wor...
It is a common, yet, difficult-to-answer question: if we are going deeper and deeper into the matter, when will we leave our ordinary world and when will the quantum world start? To answer this question is crucial. The two worlds differ significantly, their prevalent laws are completely different. Our ordinal world is sharp and concrete, the quantum world is fuzzy and probabilistic. They are like two different physical worlds, yet, both exist and present. They are living next to each other in harmony, dividing, sharing, and creating the whole world.
Despite the fundamental differences, the two worlds can easily transfer to each other. What is the separation line and where is the door between the quantum and the ordinary world?
One approach follows the size rule. When we go deeper and deeper into the matter, and we reach smaller and smaller sizes, sooner or later, we will leave the ordinal world and we will find the quantum world. What is the size limit where the two worlds are separated? Our experiments show if the circumstances are right, even not so small objects can belong to the quantum world, and even the smallest elementary particles - for example, when we measure them - can behave like they are parts of our ordinary world. It looks like, the fuzzy and the concrete are not separated by the size, or at least, not sharply. Still, the prevailing laws of the two worlds look completely different and cannot overlap.
We need to find a sharp distinction between the two worlds, and it is not the size. The separator is might be the outside circumstances. We can create environments, where the laws of the quantum world are valid to bigger and bigger, and the laws of the ordinary world are valid for smaller and smaller chunks of matter. Our experiments support this approach. However, the circumstance approach is risky, because it is coming from an outside cause. The circumstance criteria would suggest that the dividing line depends on something, which exists outside and not coming from the actual matter itself. This approach could easily lead to the measurement problem with all the hard to believe conclusions like consciousness creates our physical world.
To find the dividing line, we must find inside causes, causes, which belong to the matter itself.
The fuzziness of the quantum world comes from the wave nature of that world. Particles, if they are in the quantum state, are described as waves, their physical behavior corresponds to the laws of waves. Their state is called a quantum state in quantum mechanics. Any two (or more) quantum state can be added together ("superposed") and the result will be another valid quantum state, called superposition. As long as the added quantum states form superposition, the structure belongs to the quantum world. The size of the structure is not a determining factor as long as the superposition exists.
Even if any two or more quantum states can form superposition, not everything in a superposition. Superposition is a delicate state, disturbance from an outside source can abolish it. This is why the quantum world belongs mostly to small particles. Bigger the system, easier to disturb. What the disturbance and the abolishment mean in contrast to forming superposition?
Our real world is a complex system with lots of particle interactions. Interaction, which demolishes a quantum state, practically means interaction with another member of the quantum world. The interacting partners belong to different quantum states, or if it is a more complex structure, belongs to a different superposed state. Interaction between these quantum states can demolish the old ones and at the same time creates new quantum states with new parameters.
What is the circumstantial difference between forming or joining to a superposition, or demolishing that and forming a new quantum state?
Particles belong to the quantum world when they are wavy. Every wave has specific properties, for example, frequency. Waves can match with each other. They can be compatible if their frequencies are compatible. These special classes of waves are the resonances. These waves can exist next to each other forming this special, coexisting wave structure. Translating it to the quantum language, resonances can correspond to the superpositions. The resonating structures are able to maintain their original wavy states, remain in the quantum state, belongs to the quantum world.
What happens if waves, which do not match with each other, if they are unable to form resonance, interact? The interaction creates new wave(s), different from the parent waves. New wave(s) will bear new properties following the rules of the wave mechanics. In quantum mechanics, instead of superposition forms, new quantum state(s) created with new parameters, but it is just a flash of the moment. The process does not stop there. New quantum states form with new values. We may call this state change as wave-function collapse, but what really happens is that the earlier quantum state is ceased to exist and a new quantum state is created with new parameters. A change happens.
Only the change can mean new information. We can be a part of this process, and we can observe this change in a suitable setting. We can experience the change of the quantum states as the original fuzzy, undetermined quantum state gets values, becomes concrete, but the essence is not the observation, the essence is not in the change's observable nature. It happens with or without any observer.
The essence of the change is the momentary concretization, the switch in the parameters. This is the moment that we may call wave-function collapse, or it is what we may call our real, ordinary world. The change represents the difference. Our real-world is where changes in values of the parameters happen.
On the contrary, forming superposition means forming no different quantum states, but blending them into each other. The world where it happens bear no changes in the values of the properties, it is not a changing world. It is not our observable real world.
If the creation of the new quantum states, if the change happens in a piece of capable equipment, the equipment physical parameters change by the interaction too, and it can be registered and observed, most likely with a series of wave-function collapses. A measurement happens. Measurement is not an outside process that mysteriously separates the quantum world from our ordinary world. Measurement also is a change between quantum states, only this change is registered by a piece of appropriate equipment and observed by an appropriate observer.
Quantum states are interacting with each other all the time. Quantum states, which are compatible with each other blend into each other with smooth transformation, form superposition. If they can't, they change. Then their interaction creates a new quantum state(s) with new parameters. The moment of change is our ordinary world.
We may say, our ordinary world is concrete because it has exact values of its parameters, contrary to the fuzziness of the quantum world. We may say, wave-function-collapse creates our ordinary world. Viewing our world this way is misleading and causes philosophical problems because it leads to the viewpoint as it would be two different worlds. We have only one world. Our world's states can interact by blending into each other and stay fuzzy or can interact by colliding and forming new states with new parameters. If the collisions happen often, very often, then the world gets new values all the time. Our real world is a teeming world with a lot of interactions. Most of them are quantum-state-changing type, so-called wave-collapsing interactions. Our experienced world behaves for us as it would be continuously concrete, and this way looks different. We know this world because it is what we can directly experience it.
An interesting aspect of this view is that any size of matter could belong to the quantum world. How about the whole universe? The Big Bang then might be just a transfer between a global quantum state to our state-changing real world. When the circumstances become right, or an appropriate interaction happens, or measurement made, or just in a random moment, a change occurs, a global phase transformation start, and our real-world born in a Big Bang. And even continuing this progress, our current universe might transfer once back to a global quantum state again creating the chance to transfer to an ordinary state back again. Again, and again.
The grid model, which discussed in several thoughts supports this cosmology model.
Our real world is the continuous flow of moments of change of the waves, what we are. How get its values and how become concrete? It was discussed and will be discussed in other thoughts.
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