The Spreading Out Of The Wavefunction Viewed Through Systemic Functional Linguistics

Penrose (2004: 516-7):

For the moment, let us accept this curious description, at least as a mathematical model of the quantum world, whereby the quantum state evolves for a while in the form of a wavefunction, usually spreading out through space  (but possibly being focused in again to a more localised region); but then, when a measurement is performed, the state collapses down to something localised and specific. This instant localisation happens no matter how spread out the wavefunction may have been before the measurement, whereafter the state again evolves as a Schrödinger-guided wave, starting from this specific localised configuration, usually spreading out again until the next measurement is performed. From the above experimental (and ‘thought-experimental’) situations, the impression could be gained that the particle-like aspects of a wave/particle are what show up in a measurement, whereas it is the wavelike ones that show up between measurements.

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, the wavefunction does not 'spread out through space' before and after the taking of measurements. This is to misconstrue potential as actual. Instead, the wavefunction identifies the potential locations of a particle in terms of probability. It is only when an observation is made that an instance of this potential is actualised as a particle at a specific location.