Schrödinger’s Love Letter

Hi,

Guess what? I’ve spent years looking at differential equations as tools to solve academic problems. But recently, I saw the Time-Dependent Schrödinger Equation recast as a love letter, and it made me look at my own life through a completely different lens.

It starts with this equation:

In physics,  represents the state of a system. It's the mathematical identity of a particle at any given moment in time. This equation describes how that state changes over the course of its journey. But when applied to two systems that cross paths, it whispers a poetic truth that Erwin Schrödinger himself noted back in 1935. His words read like a love letter to the universe:

"If two systems interact with each other for a certain period of time and then separate, we can describe them as two different systems but in a subtle way they become a single system. What happens to one continues to affect the other, even at a distance of miles or light years."

In simple terms: when two particles meet and spend time interacting, they become a team. From that moment on, they share a single, inseparable story. Even if you take one particle, put it on a plane, and fly it halfway across the world, it remains completely connected to the one left behind. You can no longer describe one without mentioning the other. They are a package deal.

As a mathematician, I found this perspective incredibly comforting because it is exactly how human connection works.

We often worry that time, busy schedules, or moving away will fade our closest bonds. We look at friendships that started over thirty years ago in primary school back when our biggest worry was who had the coolest pencil box. And we wonder how we can still feel so close when we now live such separate lives. (Hi EIJEY's!😘)

But physics tells us that true interaction leaves a permanent footprint. Once your life intersects with someone, you are no longer operating in isolation. Distance doesn't dissolve the connection, it just stretches the bond.

That is why you can go months, or even years, without talking to your favourite people, but the moment you reunite, it’s like no time has passed at all. You can sit in a restaurant, enjoy a meal in total, comfortable silence, and it doesn't feel awkward. You just get each other. Your paths might look different now, but your core stories are still beautifully entangled.

So, to my original squad, my long-lost university peers, and everyone who has shared a chapter of my time-evolution, according to the laws of quantum mechanics, you’re stuck in my wavefunction. 😉