(physics, philosophy) The hypothetical observer in a thought experiment in which Wigner, absent when his friend observes the state of a particle (in some versions, Schrödinger's cat) as it collapses from quantum superposition, concludes that both the particle and his friend remain in quantum superposition until Wigner himself learns the result of the observation.

plural of Wigner energy

(physics) Energy stored in the graphite moderators of a nuclear reactor

A theorem of representation theory and quantum mechanics, stating that matrix elements of spherical tensor operators on the basis of angular momentum eigenstates can be expressed as the product of two factors, one of which is independent of angular momentum orientation, and the other a Clebsch-Gordan coefficient.