Abstract
The maximum entropy formalism is used to obtain the distribution of amplitudes of a single quantum state. Such a distribution is required to account for the observed irregular but reproducible spectra at high levels of excitation. The computed distribution agrees well with experimentally determined histograms. The reasons for possible deviations are noted. Special attention is given to the conceptual foundations of the approach and analogies are drawn with classical statistical mechanics. A distinction between the objective and subjective elements in quantum mechanics is made. In particular it is proposed that the amplitudes are objective while their distribution reflects a state of knowledge.
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© 1989 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Levine, R.D. (1989). The Statistics of Quantum Mechanical Wavefunctions. In: Skilling, J. (eds) Maximum Entropy and Bayesian Methods. Fundamental Theories of Physics, vol 36. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-7860-8_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-7860-8_8
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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