The Mott Problem
The Mott problem concerns the paradox of reconciling the spherical wave function describing the emission of an alpha ray by a radioactive nucleus, with the linear tracks seen in a cloud chamber. Formulated in 1929 by Sir Nevill Francis Mott and Werner Heisenberg, it was resolved by a calculation done by Mott that showed that the correct quantum mechanical system must include the wave functions for the atoms in the cloud chamber as well as that for the alpha ray. The calculation showed that the resulting probability is non-zero only on straight lines raying out from the decayed atom; that is, once the measurement is performed, the wave-function becomes non-vanishing only near the classical trajectory of a particle.
Read more about this topic: Renninger Negative-result Experiment
Famous quotes containing the words mott and/or problem:
“And tell me what street
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—Lorenz Hart (1895–1943)
“The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line—the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea. It was a phase of this problem that caused the Civil War.”
—W.E.B. (William Edward Burghardt)