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quantum theory

quantum theory

7 7.4
A theory in physics that says some things like energy exist only as small, separate amounts
  • noun
  • /ˈkwɒntəm ˈθɪəri/
  • Specialized
translation icon : teoría cuántica
  • As you can see from my calculations, we will soon be able to combine general relativity and quantum theory.
  • quantum theory and relativity
  • quantum theory of spacetime
  • relativistic quantum theory

When you incorporate quantum theory, you get different results.

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Examples

  • According to textbook quantum theory, that doesn't seem to be the case.

  • When you incorporate quantum theory, you get different results.

  • It's because the quantum theory is not complete.

  • I hear you want to start a school of quantum theory.

  • I explained quantum theory to the class the way it had been explained to me.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • The key difference in quantum theory is that these probabilities are fundamental.

  • So far you've seen quantum theory applied to gases, right?

  • Thus, his early work in theoretical physics focused on applying the new quantum theory to the understanding of diverse phenomena.

    Academic text (2004)
  • Relativity theory and quantum theory, in particular, overturned everything that had gone before.

    Academic text (2001)
  • Decades of experiments have verified the quirky laws of quantum theory again and again.

Synonyms

quantum mechanics
vsquantum theory
  • Specialized
31 5.6

A branch of physics that explains how very small particles like atoms and electrons behave

is the idea that certain physical properties exist as separate tiny amounts

Surface Forms

Morphology

quantum + theory

The meaning is directly compositional: combining 'quantum' (discrete quantity) with 'theory' (set of ideas) yields a theory about quanta, which matches the given definition. This noun+noun compositional pattern is regular and cross-linguistically common, so a learner who knows both constituents can infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Quantum theory gets its name from the word quantum, a Latin word that meant 'how much' and later came to mean a fixed 'amount'. Early scientists found that energy seems to come in small 'packets', so they called the idea quantum theory, meaning a theory about those small, separate amounts.