Superselection
Alright kiddo, are you ready to learn about something called superselection?
Well, sometimes we have a bunch of things that are a bit different from each other, and we want to say that they're all "the same" in some way. For example, we might have a bunch of toys that are all different colors, but they're all toys, so we could say they're "the same" in that way.
Scientists sometimes have to deal with things like this too. They might have a bunch of particles (which are really tiny things that make up everything in the world) that are a bit different from each other, but they all share one important thing: they have the same amount of something called "charge". It's kind of like how all the toys were "the same" because they were all toys.
But sometimes a scientist might have two different sets of particles, and they don't share any important thing like "charge" - kind of like how some toys might be stuffed animals and others might be action figures. In this case, we say that the two sets of particles are "superselected". It's like saying they're so different from each other that we can't really compare them in any meaningful way.
That's the very basics of superselection, kiddo - it's when we have a bunch of things that are just too different from each other to be compared in the usual way. Scientists use it to help understand the really tiny world of particles and how they behave.
Well, sometimes we have a bunch of things that are a bit different from each other, and we want to say that they're all "the same" in some way. For example, we might have a bunch of toys that are all different colors, but they're all toys, so we could say they're "the same" in that way.
Scientists sometimes have to deal with things like this too. They might have a bunch of particles (which are really tiny things that make up everything in the world) that are a bit different from each other, but they all share one important thing: they have the same amount of something called "charge". It's kind of like how all the toys were "the same" because they were all toys.
But sometimes a scientist might have two different sets of particles, and they don't share any important thing like "charge" - kind of like how some toys might be stuffed animals and others might be action figures. In this case, we say that the two sets of particles are "superselected". It's like saying they're so different from each other that we can't really compare them in any meaningful way.
That's the very basics of superselection, kiddo - it's when we have a bunch of things that are just too different from each other to be compared in the usual way. Scientists use it to help understand the really tiny world of particles and how they behave.