Great quote from a paper
Physics papers are often completely obtuse, with helpful statements like “It should be intuitively obvious that…” or “It can be understood that…” when in fact the point in question is neither obvious to nor understood by anyone except for the author, and perhaps the author’s colleagues. Perhaps. Oh, okay, I’m exagerating - but certainly to a non-expert in the field, cryptic passages are too often the norm, and you wonder if they’re actually speaking another language.
But I’ve never seen a paper where this is quite so apt as E. Joos, Continuous measurement: Watchdog effect versus golden rule Phys. Rev. D 29, 1626–1633 (1984), which features this fantastic passage:
A master equation int he context of quantum mechanics was first derived by Pauli. […] this may find its justification in the interaction with the environment. Pauli’s work also contains some remarks which may be understood in this way:
“… um dagegen den zeitlichen Ablauf irgendeines Vorganges zu erfassen, muss ein System stets als durch irgendwelche Apparate messend verfolgt, d.h. als unabgeschlossen angesehen werden.” “… werden im allgemienen die Beobachtungen selbst eine solche Regellosigkeit begunstigen.”
In view of the previous section…
“Understood in this way”?! Now if I just knew whether this was a deliberate joke or not!
native german who doesn't get the joke :-( Says:
“…in order to grasp the temporal run of any process, a system must always be tracked by some measuring-apparatus, i.e. it must be viewed as non-closed.” “…in general, the observations themselves will favour such randomness.”
native german speaker Says:
“…in order to grasp the temporal run of any process, a system must always be tracked by some measuring-apparatus, i.e. it must be viewed as non-closed.” “…in general, the observations themselves will favour such randomness.”
“… in order to seize against it the temporal operational sequence of any procedure, a system must always as by any apparatuses measuring pursued, i.e. as if unabgeschlossen to be regarded.” “… become in general expressions the observations themselves such an irregularity begunstigen.”