Heisenberg cut Heisenberg cut In quantum mechanics, a Heisenberg cut is the hypothetical interface between quantum events and an observer's information, knowledge, or conscious awareness. Below the cut everything is governed by the wave function; above the cut a classical description is used. The Heisenberg cut is a theoretical construct; it is not known whether actual Heisenberg cuts exist, where they might be found, or how they could be detected experimentally. However, the concept is useful for analysis. The cut is named after Werner Heisenberg's work on the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics in which it is associated with wave function collapse.
Heisenberg group group of a locally compact abelian group "K", equipped with a Haar measure. Such a group has a Pontrjagin dual formula_101, consisting of all continuous formula_102-valued characters on "K", which is also a locally compact abelian group if endowed with the compact-open topology. The Heisenberg group associated with the locally compact abelian group "K" is the subgroup of the unitary group of formula_103 generated by translations from "K" and multiplications by elements of formula_101. In more detail, the Hilbert space formula_103 consists of square-integrable complex-valued functions formula_106 on "K". The translations in "K" form a unitary representation of "K" as