Intuition on the postulates of Quantum Mechanics

Questions:
1. Why probabilities?
-Probabilities appear as a connection between the classical particle and classical
wave models, the link between a wave and a particle. The first to come up with
this notion was Einstein, introducing that electromagnetic radiation (a wave 𝐸⃑ =
⃑ ∙ 𝑥 − 𝜔𝑡), 𝐸⃑ being the electric field) could be thought as a gas of light
𝐸0 cos(𝑘
particles, the photon gas. From this, one may assume that the irradiance of light
is related to the statistical interpretation of the number of photons that pass
through a certain amount of area. The irradiance I, is defined as time averaged
Poynting vector, which is proportional to |E|2. Einstein suggested that the quantity
|E|2, that in EM is proportional to the energy density over a volume, is also
proportional the average number of photons through a particular area. Reducing
this notion to a single particle, then, we relate it to de Broglie’s matter waves. We
construct a wavefunction Ψ (as 𝐸⃑ ) for a general particle, whose statistical
interpretation, its probability density over a volume, must be proportional to |Ψ|2 .
The question of setting it equal to 1 is just a matter of convenience from probability
theory. This idea was given by Max Born.

2. Why are state vectors?

-States must respect superposition whatsoever! By definition superposition
comes from linearity and linear combinations. The interference patterns of all
things exhibits a wavy like nature, and those are linear. Therefore, the states in
this generalized point of view must also be linear, besides having other
information in them. One could also argue that if these states are represented by
waves, and in mathematics, wavefunctions, the functions themselves are
abstract vectors. This line of reasoning leads directly to vectors. Moreover,
superposition must be respected at all costs, so everything we build must be
linear, including the latter operators. The core idea is that, for certain observables,
the spectrum is discrete. So we must generalise wavefunctions to state vectors
for easier manipulations. Another advantageous result is the natural uncoupling
of any dependence of some specific variable, like x or p, and the possibility of
working with abstract vectors without any dependence besides t, the universal
parameter of our Hilbert space, again, for easier manipulations. Thus, one can
project the state vector on an x basis or a p basis, as one desires. Understood
the properties of states, one must now discover how to extract useful information
from it.
3. Why are observables hermitian operators?
-The general idea is measurement. First, a measurement commonly collapse a
general state into one of its possible values, which even in principle, cannot be
predicted. Only probabilistic information can be learned. Second, the states that
do not change when measured are states related to one of the possible
outcomes. And from probabilistic interpretation, a general state must contain all
possible values of an observable 𝐴, even with zero probability. There are no
possible values that are not spanned by the (eigen)states related to 𝐴. It then
means that a general state must be expanded in a basis such that all of the basis
states represent a possible outcome of 𝐴 when measured. Third, some
observables, when measured, destroy previous information of the system, so that
it is impossible to obtain the information from those observables ate the same
time. These features: the ability to change some states, not to change some
others, those being the special ones that carry one of the possible outcomes, the
ability to create a basis from the special states, alongside the idea that everything
must respect superposition, and finally and more importantly, that non
commutativity of some observables define the properties of a hermitian (linear)
operator (a normal operator would suffice. Despite this, since eigenvalues are
related to one of the possible outcomes of measurement, one may impose that
those values must be real, reducing the normal operator to a hermitian one). A
hermitian operator: does not change one of its own eigenstates, has the ability to
expand any general state into a basis of its corresponding eigenstates, and being
an operator, no always commutes with other operators. It is important to point out
that the observables themselves do not collapse the state to one of their own
eigenstates, or in a sense, do not measure the state. The collapse is a feature of
the physical measure itself. The operators are only a machinery one uses to make
probabilistic predictions, based on the possible outcomes. However, with all
these common properties between observables and hermitian operators, there is
no information on how to extract the useful information commented early.
Moreover, there is no information regarding the definition of each operator. How
is 𝐻 defined? And 𝑃? And 𝑋 or 𝐿?

4. Why eigenvalue equation?

-This is another of the incredible constructions of quantum mechanics. The
hermitian operators does not affect one of their own eigenstates and also have
real eigenvalues. Therefore, the basic idea is: one should measure a determined
observable in laboratory, discover all the possible outcomes of a certain
measurement and assign each of its results to an eigenvalue of the operator
related to the observable in question. From these, one defines each eigenstate
related to each eigenvalue and discovers every possible outcome, and can
ultimately construct the operators and their respective eigenvalue equations. The
Hamiltonian operator provides the energy eigenvalues and their corresponding
eigenstates. The momentum operator provides momentum eigenvalues, and the
eigenstates. And so on. Eigenvalue equations are the construction of Quantum
Mechanics to extract information that is comprehensible to us, from a system,
when all observables have already been defined as hermitian operators. If one
knows that a particle is at some definite state of some observable, acting with the
corresponding operator gives exactly the value of this observable from the state.
 5. How to set up the operators?
-The final idea for operators is the following: in a general experiment, one makes
use of classical machinery to obtain results of quantum phenomena. The
variables measured are all the classical observables already mentioned. So one
must search for the utmost intrinsic properties of these observables in CM, and
assume they must also be valid in QM. This leads directly to Noether’s Theorem.
From CM,
Hamiltonian ———-> Time Translations
Momentum ————> Space Translations
Angular Momentum ————> Rotations
From these, one is capable of construct the Hamiltonian Operator (𝐻), the
Momentum Operator (𝑃), and the Angular Momentum Operator (𝐿). From these,
a lot of whole new systems can be discovered and studied. This closes the search
for all the information one needs to model a system mathematically. Taking the
eigenvalue equations, the eigenvalues are measured in laboratory, the operators
are assembled from Classical Mechanics and from all these, the states can be
discovered, resulting in the probabilistic discovery of the system.

6. Why expectation values?

-These are essential to validate the theory. One of the reasons is to compare with
experiments. One sets up a collection of experiments with the same initial state,
and compares the probability results to the tested outcomes. The other reason
relates to the correspondence principle. Since Quantum Mechanics is a theory
for small quantities (particles, energies, momenta...), all linked to ħ. In the limit of
large quantities (in comparison to ħ), or put in another way, in the limit of ħ —> 0,
one must be able to recover Classical Mechanics. This was done by Paul
Ehrenfest. His theorem states that, applying expectation values in Schrödinger
Equation leads directly to an expectation value version of Classical Mechanics
equations, making QM an extension of CM on the limit of small quantities.