English

How many bits specify a quantum state?

Quantum Physics 2016-09-14 v2 Statistical Mechanics

Abstract

Quantum mechanics suggests that nature is discrete, with one state per phase space volume 3N\hbar^{3N}. This appears to contradict the idea that the state of an N-particle system can have infinite precision and is described by a set of exponentially many complex numbers. Using a finite-temperature gas confined in a box as an example, this short paper argues that there are indeed limits to the precision of wave functions, and that this may help at understanding the quantum-to-classical transition.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1609.02587,
  title  = {How many bits specify a quantum state?},
  author = {Barbara Drossel},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1609.02587},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

Short, easy-to-read paper; abstract rewritten; one reference added

R2 v1 2026-06-22T15:44:25.609Z