Quantum Mechanics Wiki

Quantum mechanics (QM; also known as quantum physics or quantum theory) includin
g quantum field theory, is a fundamental branch of physics concerned with proces
ses involving, for example, atoms and photons. In such processes, said to be qua
ntized, the action has been observed to be only in integer multiples of the Plan
ck constant, a physical quantity that is exceedingly, indeed perhaps ultimately,
small. This is utterly inexplicable in classical physics.
Quantum mechanics gradually arose from Max Planck's solution in 1900 to the blac
k-body radiation problem (reported 1859) and Albert Einstein's 1905 paper which
offered a quantum-based theory to explain the photoelectric effect (reported 188
7). Early quantum theory was significantly reformulated in the mid-1920s.
The mathematical formulations of quantum mechanics are abstract. A mathematical
function, the wave function, provides information about the probability amplitud
e of position, momentum, and other physical properties of a particle.
Important applications of quantum mechanical theory include superconducting magn
ets, LEDs and the laser, the transistor and semiconductors such as the microproc
essor, medical and research imaging such as MRI and electron microscopy, and exp
lanations for many biological and physical phenomena.