Operators in Quantum Mechanics

Associated with each measurable parameter in a physical system is a quantum mechanical operator. Such operators arise because in quantum mechanics you are describing nature with waves (the wavefunction) rather than with discrete particles whose motion and dymamics can be described with the deterministic equations of Newtonian physics. Part of the development of quantum mechanics is the establishment of the operators associated with the parameters needed to describe the system. Some of those operators are listed below.

It is part of the basic structure of quantum mechanics that functions of position are unchanged in the Schrodinger equation, while momenta take the form of spatial derivatives. The Hamiltonian operator contains both time and space derivatives.