Sunday, August 4, 2019

quantum mechanics - Energy conservation limited by uncertainty principle


The way I learned it from practicing Fourier analysis and signal processing besides quantum mechanics, is that Energy conservation cannot be achieved in short time scales, and that limits energy conservation in Quantum mechanics.



In other words: Energy conservation is limited by the Heisenberg uncertainty principle in our universe.


$$\Delta E \cdot \Delta t \geq \frac{\hbar}{2}$$


As I posted this answer somewhere, someone said this is wrong. So I posted this issue here, for maybe I don't understand it properly and you guys could tell me why this is wrong.


Example:


A beta decay produces a W-boson, which is ~85 times larger in mass than the initial particles (which decays eventually to neutrino and some beta particle), and this is possible due to the very short time scale, during which the W-boson is produced. I.e, energy is not conserved in very short time scales.


Do I understand this correctly? Thank you.




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