This is Part 2 of the "Nifty papers" series, talking about papers of mine that I think are cool, but that have been essentially ignored by the community. Part 1 is here.
This is the story of my third paper, still as a graduate student (in my third year) at Stony Brook University, on Long Island.
I suppose this happens even to the best of us: you write a paper that you think is really cool and has an important insight in it, but nobody ever reads it. Or if they read it, they don't cite it. I was influenced here by the blog post by Claus Wilke, who argues that you should continue writing papers even if nobody reads them. I'm happy to do that, but I also crave attention. If I have a good idea, I want people to notice.
Read MoreLet me briefly recap parts 1-3 for those of you who like to jump into the middle of a series, convinced that they'll get the hang of it anyway. You might, but a recap is nice anyway.
Remember these posts use MathJax to render equations. Your browser can handle this, so if you see a bunch of dollar signs and LaTeX commands instead of formulas, you need to configure your browser to handle MathJax.
Read MoreIn the previous two parts, I told you how I became interested in the quantum measurement problem (Part I), and provided a bit of historical background (Part 2). Now we'll get to the heart of the matter.
Note that I'm using MathJax to display equations in this blog. If your browser shows a bunch of dollar signs and gibberish where equations should appear, you probably have to figure out how to install MathJax on your browser. Don't email me: I know nothing about such intricacies.
Read MoreThis is Part 2 of the "On quantum measurement" series. Part 1: (Hans Bethe, the oracle) is here.
Before we begin in earnest, I should warn you, (or ease your mind, whichever is your preference): this sequence has math in it. I'm not in it to dazzle you with math. It's just that I know no other way to convey my thoughts about quantum measurement in a more succinct manner. Math, you see, is a way for those of us who are not quite bright enough, to hold on to thoughts which, without math, would be too daunting to formulate, too ambitious to pursue. Math is for poor thinkers, such as myself. If you are one of those too, come join me. The rest of you: why are you still reading? Oh, you're not. OK.
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