The world is not real: quantum mechanics needs imaginary numbers | Armin Tavakoli | TEDxTUWien

Armin discusses the intertwined relationship between mathematics and physics. At TEDxTUWien 2022, he will tell the story of how the imaginary number, originally a controversial mathematical innovation, has now found its way into the foundations of quantum mechanics, our leading physics theory of the smallest things in nature.
Video produced by: Apehouse
www.apehouse.at Dr. Armin Tavakoli is a theoretical physicist. He researches quantum mechanics, which concerns nature on the smallest scales, such as atoms and particles. His focus is partly on understanding foundational questions in a world governed by the laws of quantum mechanics and partly on applying quantum mechanics to information processing tasks such as communication and computation. Originally from Sweden, he was active in research in Stockholm, Barcelona, Gdansk, and Berkeley before receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Geneva in 2020. Currently, he is a postdoctoral researcher at Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien) and the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI). This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx

[@I-M-2.]

Just replace imaginary 'i' with the real matrix [0, 1; -1, 0] and double the number of equations you have. Your welcome.

[@skistorm739]

Questions how honkai starrail use this or brawl stars lore theories like from subzero turnip?

[@yanntal954]

You can still use 2 by 2 real rotation matrices instead of complex numbers. I don't understand why this is remarkable at all of course rotations describes real things... namely rotations

[@madgepickles]

Math is not a human invention. Math is a description of the real world, in that way it is a science

[@remomagalhaes4707]

Thanks for this important and revealing lecture

[@460Chris]

Truly amazing.

[@T0NYD1CK]

Descartes said: "I think, therefore i is!"

[@noblesleem1077]

Math is the force of life

[@Iamjamessmith1]

If the world is not real, this speaker is not real either.

[@mathsstation1057]

Wow

[@QuicksilverSG]

The title of this video, "The world is not real", is highly misleading. The quantum wave-function, which describes the quantum state of a system under observaton, is a complex-valued function defined in Configuration Space rather than in the physical 3D universe we inhabit. However, physical measurements of a quantum system always produce solutions of the quantum wave-function that are real-valued. Thus the physical 3D universe is real, both in tangible and mathematical senses, while the quantum world of Configuration Space is complex-valued.

[@T0NYD1CK]

If the only tool you have is a hammer then every problem looks like a nail.

[@oversquare6625]

ok - his opening line is iodic.