Re:Super-Saturated Chemistry
by selimthegrim on Monday January 23, 2017 @12:20PM
(#13463802)
The Born-Oppenheimer approximation isn't a non-quantum assumption, but the simplest form of parallel transport on a curved space. The geometric phase is a fundamental part of quantum mechanics. This is a succinct restatement of what is learned by the second year of a good physics graduate education (and maybe undergraduate one), and I'm not sure where the Goldstone bosons are relevant or what his point is.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
The Born-Oppenheimer approximation is first and foremost a simplification of the equations following from the time independent Schroedinger equation. The author probably wanted to stress the fact that this simplification does not follow from any other general principle of quantum theory but is necessary to use it in order to make use of the Schr. equation in chemistry (most theory of molecules is based on this approximation). If we do not make the approximation, the equations are complex and we cannot derive the usual results of quantum chemistry.
Yeah, I had a hard time understanding what the author was trying to say (and I have a PhD in Biophysics and work with QC all the time).