physics

Michael Horne (physicist)

Michael Horne (physicist) is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Michael Horne (physicist) rather than just read about it. In short: Michael Allan Horne (January 18, 1943 – January 19, 2019) was an American quantum physicist, known for his work on the foundations of quantum mechanics. Biography Horne studied at the University of Mississippi and earned his doctorate in physics at Boston University with Abner Shimony.

Key takeaways

Michael Horne (physicist) belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Michael Horne (physicist) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Michael Horne (physicist) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Michael Allan Horne (January 18, 1943 – January 19, 2019) was an American quantum physicist, known for his work on the foundations of quantum mechanics.

Biography Horne studied at the University of Mississippi and earned his doctorate in physics at Boston University with Abner Shimony. He taught at Stonehill College, a catholic school in Easton in the south of Boston. Together with John Clauser, Abner Shimony and Richard A. Holt he developed the CHSH inequality for experimentally testing Bell's theorem (the test was conducted in 1972 by John Clauser and Stuart Freedman). In 1975 he started to investigate neutron interferometry in collaboration with Clifford Shull at MIT (at this time, neutron interference experiments were being developed by Sam Werner at the University of Missouri and by Helmut Rauch and Anton Zeilinger at the University of Vienna). This led to an encounter with Daniel Greenberger, who had already theoretically proposed neutron interferometry for gravitation in the 1960s and was also interested in Shull's experiment, and later with Zeilinger (in Grenoble 1978). With Daniel Greenberger and Anton Zeilinger in 1989 he introduced quantum entangled states of three subsystems (Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger states) which was first experimentally realized in 1998 and represents a conceptual improvement over experiments based on Bell's inequality, as the violation with local realism was now a deterministic consequence predicted by quantum physics. GHZ states were the first examples of quantum entanglement with more than two particles and play a fundamental role in quantum information theory. Along with Gregg Jaeger and Abner Shimony, he later found a novel complementarity relation interferometric visibility in two-particle quantum interferometry.

Selected works with J. Clauser, Abner Shimony, Richard Holt: Proposed experiment to test local hidden variable theories. In: Physical Review Letters. Band 23, 1969, S. 880. with J. Clauser: Experimental consequences of objective local theories. In: Physical Review D. Band 10, 1974, S. 526

References

External links Website at Stonehill College Oral History Interview, AIP, 2002 Interview, Stonehill News 2010 Quantum Arrangements: A volume in honor of Michael Horne

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Michael Horne (physicist)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Michael Horne (physicist) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Michael Horne (physicist) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Michael Horne (physicist) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Michael Horne (physicist)

In research: Michael Horne (physicist) appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Michael Horne (physicist) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Michael Horne (physicist) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1946 births, 2019 deaths, 20th-century American physicists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Michael Horne (physicist) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Michael Horne (physicist) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Michael Horne (physicist) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
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Frequently asked questions

What is Michael Horne (physicist) in simple terms?

Michael Allan Horne (January 18, 1943 – January 19, 2019) was an American quantum physicist, known for his work on the foundations of quantum mechanics. Biography Horne studied at the University of Mississippi and earned his doctorate in physics at Boston University with Abner Shimony.

Why does Michael Horne (physicist) matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Michael Horne (physicist)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Michael Horne (physicist).