---
title: "Wave function · Library · Simulation Hypothesis"
url: https://simulation-hypothesis.com/library/wave-function
description: "The wave function is the mathematical object that holds the complete quantum state of a system."
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
credit: "Ross Allan Dahl, Simulation Hypothesis (simulation-hypothesis.com)"
---

## Quantum mechanics

# Wave function

Definition

The wave function is the mathematical object that holds the complete quantum state of a system. For N two-state particles it has 2^N complex components.

On this site

The Quantum, fully entangled rung stores one of these for the whole build. That’s why the total goes off the scale.

Role in the model

The Quantum, fully entangled rung stores one wave function for the whole build. For a universe, that’s 2^(10^80) numbers. The total doesn’t just grow. It leaves the number line, and the site has to adopt a new notation to write it down.

Related

[Superposition](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/library/superposition)[Entanglement](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/library/entanglement)[Quantum computing](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/library/quantum-computing)

## The people behind the terms

14 short pages, one per thinker, each with its matching dial. See also the [reading list](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/reading).

[Plato’s cave](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/plato)[Zhuangzi’s butterfly](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/zhuangzi)[Vasubandhu’s dream](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/vasubandhu)[Shankara’s māyā](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/shankara)[al-Ghazali’s doubt](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/ghazali)[Ibn Arabi’s imagination](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/ibn-arabi)[Calderón’s life is a dream](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/calderon)[Descartes’ demon](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/descartes)[Berkeley’s perceiver](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/berkeley)[Borges’ circular ruins](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/borges)[Nozick’s experience machine](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/nozick)[Putnam’s brain in a vat](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/putnam)[Bostrom’s trilemma](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/bostrom)[Chalmers: virtual worlds are real](https://simulation-hypothesis.com/thinkers/chalmers)