wave function

noun

, Physics.

1. a solution of a wave equation.
2. (in quantum mechanics) a mathematical function, found by solving a quantum-mechanical wave equation, that is used to predict the outcome of measurements on physical systems.

wave function

noun

1. physics a mathematical function of position and generally time, used in wave mechanics to describe the state of a physical system ψ

wave function

1. A mathematical function used in quantum mechanics to describe the propagation of the wave associated with a particle or group of particles. The wave function is a solution to Schrödinger's equation, given the boundary conditions that describe the physical system in which the particle is found. The square of the function evaluated at a given point in space is proportional to the probability of finding the particle in the immediate vicinity of that position.

Example Sentences

Instead, the beams’ particles have wave functions that move in a corkscrewing motion as a beam travels through space.

From Science News

When we then measured the wave function of the electrons, which describes their quantum state, we found that they too lived at the fractal dimension dictated by the physical pattern we’d made.

From Singularity Hub 

If you have the wave function of a substance and you know what kind of light pulse you’re using, you can predict the result — the expectation value — you’re going to get.

From Quanta Magazine

To do that, you also need to know the system’s wave function, or equivalently its Hamiltonian — which in general you don’t.

From Quanta Magazine

For a quantum mechanical system, the equivalent is to know how its quantum wave function evolves in time, which is determined by a mathematical function called the Hamiltonian.

From Quanta Magazine