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The Mott Problem or the Paradox of Light Rays

1,317 views · Published 20 September 2012 · 9:19 · Indexed 12 November 2026

Channel: Dyslexic Artist Theory on the Physics of Time · 2012 · Education

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This Mott problem or paradox highlights the difficulty understanding the nature of the wave function Ψ collapse in quantum mechanics. We have spherical 4π wave functions that collapse into linear tracks that are visible in cloud chambers or bubble chamber of particle accelerators. In this theory the wave function or probability function forms part of a universal process. We see and feel this process as the flow of time forming the linear flow of time within each individual ref-frame. The linear tracks formed by a particle accelerator are no different than light rays that we can see at daybreak or sunset. It is just that particle accelerators use much higher energy but it is part of the same one universal process! The problem was first formulated in 1929 by Sir Nevill Francis Mott 1929 and Werner Heisenberg, illustrating the paradox of the collapse of a spherically symmetric wave function into the linear tracks seen in a cloud chamber. In practice, virtually all high energy physics experiments, such as those conducted at particle colliders , involve wave functions which are inherently spherical. Yet, when the results of a particle collision are detected, they are invariably in the form of linear tracks (see, for example, the illustrations accompanying the article on bubble chambers). It is somewhat strange to think that a spherically symmetric wave function should be observed as a straight track, and yet, this occurs on a daily basis in all particle collider experiments.

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