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After the Collision
During the Collision
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Page 2
| The three-paneled diagram at right is an example of how the scientists at the Center have studied the three-body scattering system. Each diagram represents ``mathematical portrait" of the state of the system at a certain time in its evolution. | ||
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Each diagram is a mathematical plot in which values on both the horizontal and vertical axis are calculated from the relative speedsof the particles at a certain instant of time.
The top diagram represents the system after the collision, and the bottom diagram represents the system during the collision.
| After the Collision |
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The colors in the plot represent the probability
(at that time)
of measuring the system with a a certain value of relative speeds. One reason that
probabilities must
be used here because the system studied here is quantum mechanical, rather than classical.
| During the Collision | ||
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