It is the idea that a system is in all possible states at the same time, until it is measured.
In physics and systems theory, the superposition principle, also known as superposition property, states that, for all linear systems, the net response at a given place and time caused by two or more stimuli is the sum of the responses which would have been caused by each stimulus individually. This principle has many applications in physics and engineering because many physical systems can be modeled as linear systems. For example, a beam can be modeled as a linear system where the input stimulus is the load on the beam and the output response is the deflection of the beam. The principle of quantum superposition states that, provided the primary beam is pure, it is possible so to carefully contrive the spatial arrangements, that the result is a perfect restoration of the primary input beam. The primary pure state has been restored. For an equation describing a physical phenomenon, the superposition principle states that a combination of solutions to a linear equation is also a solution of it. When this is true the equation is said to obey the superposition principle. Superposition of Waves. The principle of superposition may be applied to waves whenever two (or more) waves travelling through the same medium at the same time. The waves pass through each other without being disturbed. The net displacement of the medium at any point in space or time, is simply the sum of the individual wave displacements. Two waves (with the same amplitude, frequency, and wavelength) are travelling in the same direction. Using the principle of superposition, the resulting wave displacement may be written as: which is a travelling wave whose amplitude depends on the phase (&varphi;). Introduction. The superposition principle is the idea that a system is in all possible states at the same time, until it is measured. After measurement it then falls to one of the basis states that form the superposition, thus destroying the original configuration. Discussion. The superposition principle states that a statefunction (Y) can be expanded as a linear combination of the normalized eigenstates (jn) of a particular operator that constitute a basis of the space occupied by Y. Report Abuse. The principle of superposition almost always means the principle of linear superposition, but the word linear is left out and considered to be understood. This is important to know, for the use of the word linear makes it more clear what is meant.  ). The quantum superposition principle is not as easy to visualize as the superposition principle in classical physics, since quantum theory makes use of the superposition of alternative states that are mutually exclusive from the classical standpoint. The superposition principle is important both because it simplifies finding solutions to complicated linear problems (they can be decomposed into sums of solutions of simpler problems) and because many of the fundamental laws of physics are linear. Because physical systems are generally only approximately linear, the superposition principle is only an approximation of the true physical behaviour. The superposition principle applies to any linear system, including algebraic equations, linear differential equations, and systems of equations of those forms. The stimuli and responses could be numbers, functions, vectors, vector fields, time-varying signals, or any other object which satisfies certain axioms. This principle has many applications in physics and engineering because many physical systems can be modeled as linear systems. For example, a beam can be modeled as a linear system where the input stimulus is the load on the beam and the output response is the deflection of the beam. An example of a physically observable manifestation of superposition is interference peaks from an electron wave in a double-slit experiment. Another example is a quantum logical qubit state, as used in quantum information processing, which is a linear superposition of the basis states and. For an equation describing a physical phenomenon, the superposition principle states that a combination of solutions to a linear equation is also a solution of it. When this is true the equation is said to obey the superposition principle. Superposition theorem is based on circuit linearity property. The principle of superposition theorem is “The voltage across (or current through) an element in a linear circuit is the algebraic sum of the voltages across (or currents through) that element due to each independent source acting alone.  Part of the Nanotechnology glossary: Superposition is a principle of quantum theory that describes a challenging concept about the nature and behavior of matter and forces at the sub-atomic level. Each photon moves simultaneously in a superposition of possible trajectories, and, furthermore, measurement of the trajectory causes the superposition of states to collapse to a single position. See a video explanation of quantum theory. See a video explanation of Schrodinger's cat.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superposition_principle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_superposition http://www.acs.psu.edu/drussell/Demos/superposition/superposition.html http://physics.gmu.edu/~dmaria/590%20Web%20Page/public_html/qm_topics/superposition/superposition.html https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110530192901AAnBieO http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/superposition+principle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superposition_principle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_superposition http://www.engineersblogsite.com/what-is-superposition.html http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/superposition
what is superposition principle