Looking at this text I have no idea what he is trying to say? Can some one explain it better. Also what is a superposition states?
quote So we have all these ones and zeros in a superposition of states, but for the final output we want it to collapse to a single state quote
nyphdinmd
In quantum mechanics, you predict probable outcomes that a system can achieve given some interaction. For instance, if you shine a broad band light source on a hydrogen atom, there is a probability of exciting the atom into one of its states above the ground state for each state, and there is a probability for each of those states to decay directly back to the ground state.
Now in the case of the atom getting into (or not) an excited state, we interpret the results of the quantum mechanical calculations as all of those possibilities existing simultaneously. THis is the superposition of states. It falls out of the math in that the solutions to the Schrodinger equation for a given interaction can all occur without additional conditions placed on the interaction.
THe additional condition we provide is the observation of the atom - we measure it's state by either looking at the absorption spectrum, or waiting for the atom to decay from an excited state and measure the wavelength of light emitted. Once we make the observation, we perturb the quantum system and force teh atom into a state - we just have no control over which state it goes into.
az_lender
You should read the Wikipedia article entitled "Quantum superposition." Much of it will appear confusing, and you can skip much of the math part, but the general idea will filter through to you, One simple way to think about it is to think of the probabilities involving a die (i.e., one of a pair of dice). Before you throw the die, it embodies the equal probabilities of the results 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 so that the average result is 3.5; but after it lands on a 2, well, that's the result: 2.