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I'm new to QM and have some confusions about QM. It seems to be that the quantization of energy is just some result from solving the equation, like the infinite square well problem, the quantum harmonic oscillator. I wonder if there are some fundamental reasons why we get such weird results

valerio
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mathshungry
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    What constitutes a "fundamental reason" in your sense? Is "we observed this to be true, so we invented a mathematical model that predicts this" a "fundamental reason"? – ACuriousMind Jun 10 '17 at 12:05
  • Possible duplicates: https://physics.stackexchange.com/q/39208/2451 , https://physics.stackexchange.com/q/76712/2451 , https://physics.stackexchange.com/q/298419/2451 , https://physics.stackexchange.com/q/217239/2451 and links threrein. – Qmechanic Jun 10 '17 at 12:09
  • Are you familiar with the Ultraviolet catastrophe? – Alfred Centauri Jun 10 '17 at 12:09
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    Physics cannot answer this kind of "why" questions. As ACuriousMind says, we observe that it is quantized, and we develop a model that predicts this quantization. But it is pointless to ask ourselves "why" the Universe works like that. – valerio Jun 10 '17 at 12:12

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One experiment which urged the need of quantization of energy is photoelectric effect! It will surely provide you the feeling and need of quanta!!

Vaibhav Dixit
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Before the maths there were observations that showed that somehow certain physical quantities where quantised (e.g. the Stern-Gerlach experiment). These phenomena have then got an explanation in terms of the mathematical models of QM. The fundamental reasons lie then within the mathematical frameworks.

In more concrete terms, a physical system is sometimes represented by an algebraic structure known as a C*-algebra. Depending on its properties, the spectrum of the observables (the elements of the self-adjoint part of the C*-algebra) can be quantised or continuous (or a combination of both).

Phoenix87
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  • Mathematical models allow us to describe Nature, to make predictions, but never to know why Nature works the way it works. In principle, there can be an infinity of different mathematical models to describe the same physics, so how can we say that the fundamental reasons lie within the math? – valerio Jun 10 '17 at 12:15