Making sense of quantum operators, eigenstates and quantum measurements

Gire, Elizabeth; Manogue, Corinne A.

home » Conference Proceedings Detail Page

Detail Page

Making sense of quantum operators, eigenstates and quantum measurements

written by Elizabeth Gire and Corinne A. Manogue

Operators play a central role in the formalism of quantum mechanics. In particular, operators corresponding to observables encode important information about the results of quantum measurements. We interviewed upper-level undergraduate physics majors about their understanding of the role of operators in quantum measurements. Previous studies have shown that many students think of measurements on quantum systems as being deterministic and that measurements mathematically correspond to operators acting on the initial quantum state. This study is consistent with and expands on those results. We report on how two students make sense of a quantum measurement problem involving sequential measurements and the role that the eigenvalue equation plays in this sense-making.

Physics Education Research Conference 2011
Part of the PER Conference series
Omaha, Nebraska: August 3-4, 2011
Volume 1413, Pages 195-198

download 127kb .pdf
Published: February 6, 2012

Subjects	Levels	Resource Types
Education Foundations - Problem Solving = Frameworks Mathematical Tools - Vector Calculus Quantum Physics - Foundations and Measurements - Quantum Experiments	- Upper Undergraduate - Graduate/Professional	- Reference Material = Research study

Intended Users	Formats	Ratings
- Researchers	- application/pdf - non-digital	Currently 0.0/5 Want to rate this material? Login here!

Mirror:: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3680028
Access Rights:: Free access and
Available for purchase; A preprint of the work is available. A hard copy of the PERC 2011 proceedings is available for purchase from the AIP.
Restriction:: © 2011 American Institute of Physics
DOI:: 10.1063/1.3680028
NSF Numbers:: 0837829; 1023120
PACSs:: 01.40.Fk; 03.65.Xp
Keywords:: Measurements, PERC 2011, Quantum Mechanics, Sense-making, Upper Division
Record Cloner:: Metadata instance created April 24, 2012 by Lyle Barbato
Record Updated:: May 15, 2012 by Vince Kuo
Last Update when Cataloged:: February 6, 2012
Other Collections:: The PER-Central

Post a new comment on this item

ComPADRE is beta testing Citation Styles!

Record Link

<a href="https://www.compadre.org/portal/items/detail.cfm?ID=11845">Gire, Elizabeth, and Corinne Manogue. "Making sense of quantum operators, eigenstates and quantum measurements." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2011, Omaha, Nebraska, August 3-4, 2011.</a>

AIP Format

E. Gire and C. Manogue, , presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2011, Omaha, Nebraska, 2011, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=11845&DocID=2696).

AJP/PRST-PER

E. Gire and C. Manogue, Making sense of quantum operators, eigenstates and quantum measurements, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2011, Omaha, Nebraska, 2011, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=11845&DocID=2696>.

APA Format

Gire, E., & Manogue, C. (2011, August 3-4). Making sense of quantum operators, eigenstates and quantum measurements. Paper presented at Physics Education Research Conference 2011, Omaha, Nebraska. Retrieved April 26, 2024, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=11845&DocID=2696

Chicago Format

Gire, Elizabeth, and Corinne Manogue. "Making sense of quantum operators, eigenstates and quantum measurements." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2011, Omaha, Nebraska, August 3-4, 2011. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=11845&DocID=2696 (accessed 26 April 2024).

MLA Format

Gire, Elizabeth, and Corinne Manogue. "Making sense of quantum operators, eigenstates and quantum measurements." Physics Education Research Conference 2011. Omaha, Nebraska: 2011. 195-198 Vol. 1413 of PER Conference. 26 Apr. 2024 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=11845&DocID=2696>.

BibTeX Export Format

@inproceedings{ Author = "Elizabeth Gire and Corinne Manogue", Title = {Making sense of quantum operators, eigenstates and quantum measurements}, BookTitle = {Physics Education Research Conference 2011}, Pages = {195-198}, Address = {Omaha, Nebraska}, Series = {PER Conference}, Volume = {1413}, Month = {August 3-4}, Year = {2011} }

Refer Export Format

%A Elizabeth Gire %A Corinne Manogue %T Making sense of quantum operators, eigenstates and quantum measurements %S PER Conference %V 1413 %D August 3-4 2011 %P 195-198 %C Omaha, Nebraska %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=11845&DocID=2696 %O Physics Education Research Conference 2011 %O August 3-4 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Conference Proceedings %A Gire, Elizabeth %A Manogue, Corinne %D August 3-4 2011 %T Making sense of quantum operators, eigenstates and quantum measurements %B Physics Education Research Conference 2011 %C Omaha, Nebraska %V 1413 %P 195-198 %S PER Conference %8 August 3-4 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=11845&DocID=2696

Disclaimer: ComPADRE offers citation styles as a guide only. We cannot offer interpretations about citations as this is an automated procedure. Please refer to the style manuals in the Citation Source Information area for clarifications.

Citation Source Information

The AIP Style presented is based on information from the AIP Style Manual.

The APA Style presented is based on information from APA Style.org: Electronic References.

The Chicago Style presented is based on information from Examples of Chicago-Style Documentation.

The MLA Style presented is based on information from the MLA FAQ.