Energy Content of Quantum Systems and the Alleged Collapse of the Wavefunction
arXiv:0910.2834 · doi:10.1007/978-90-481-2403-9
Abstract
It is shown that within a quantum system, the wave field has a (potential) energy content that can be exchanged with quantum particles. Energy conservation in quantum systems holds if potential energy is correctly taken to be a field attribute. From this perspective, a transfer of energy occurs on measurement from the wave field to a quantum particle and this provides a physical explanation of what is commonly referred to as the collapse of the wavefunction.
10 pages, no figures, also published in: Quantum Causality: Conceptual Issues in the Causal Theory of Quantum Mechanics (Springer, 2009)