In this article we discuss few new derivations of the so called Born's rule for quantum probability in the context of the pilot wave theory proposed by de Broglie in 1927.
Valentini [arXiv:0811.0810] has recently defended the de Broglie-Bohm pilot-wave version of quantum theory from the claim that it is essentially Everett theory encumbered with the redundant postulation of point particles. In this note, Valentini's central arguments are questioned.
The pilot wave interpretation proposed by de Broglie and later by Bohm contains not only a dynamical ontology but also relies on a statistical assumption known as quantum equilibrium. In this work which follows our recent article [1] we develop a Langevin force description of the relaxation process which leads to quantum equilibrium. Based on a application of the Caldera-Leggett model for a thermal bath we show how a Brownian motion leads naturally to quantum relaxation.
In this work we derive Born's rule from the pilot-wave theory of de Broglie and Bohm. Based on a toy model involving a particle coupled to a environement made of "qubits" (i.e., Bohmian pointers) we show that entanglement together with deterministic chaos lead to a fast relaxation from any statistitical distribution $ρ(x)$ (of finding a particle at point $x$) to the Born probability law $|Ψ(x)|^2$. Our model is discussed in the context of Boltzmann's kinetic theory and we demonstrate a kind of H theorem for the relaxation to the quantum equilibrium regime.
The standard relativistic de-Broglie--Bohm theory has the problems of tacyonic solutions and the incorrect non-relativistic limit. In this paper we obtain a relativistic theory, not decomposing the relativistic wave equations but looking for a generalization of non-relativistic Bohmian theory in such a way that the correct non-relativistic limit emerges. In this way we are able to construct a relativistic de-Broglie--Bohm theory both for a single particle and for a many-particle system. At the end, the theory is extended to the curved space-time and the connection with quantum gravity is discu…
Much attention has been drawn to quantum computing and the exponential speed-up in computation the technology would be able to provide. Various claims have been made about what aspect of quantum mechanics causes this speed-up. Formulations of quantum computing have traditionally been made in orthodox (Copenhagen) and sometimes many-worlds quantum mechanics. We will aim to understand quantum computing in terms of de Broglie-Bohm Pilot-Wave Theory by considering different simple systems that may function as a basic quantum computer. We will provide a careful discussion of Pilot-Wave Theory and e…
We illustrate, using a simple model, that in the usual formulation the time-component of the Klein-Gordon current is not generally positive definite even if one restricts allowed solutions to those with positive frequencies. Since in de Broglie's theory of particle trajectories the particle follows the current this leads to difficulties of interpretation, with the appearance of trajectories which are closed loops in space-time and velocities not limited from above. We show that at least this pathology can be avoided if one uses a covariant extension of the canonical formulation of relativistic…
In this thesis we study the de Broglie-Bohm pilot-wave interpretation of quantum theory. We consider the domain of non-relativistic quantum theory, relativistic quantum theory and quantum field theory, and in each domain we consider the possibility of formulating a pilot-wave interpretation. For non-relativistic quantum theory a pilot-wave interpretation in terms of particle beables can readily be formulated. But this interpretation can in general not straightforwardly be generalized to relativistic wave equations. The problems which prevent us from devising a pilot-wave interpretation for rel…
We review some aspects of the double solution theory proposed by de Broglie at the beginning of the quantum era (i.e., in the period 1924-28). We specifically analyze and rederive the so called guidance theorem which is a key element of the full theory. We compare the double solution approach to the most known pilot-wave interpretation, also known as de Broglie-Bohm or Bohmian mechanics. We explain why de Broglie rejected the pilot wave interpretation and advocated the double solution. We also discuss some philosophical issues related to difference of strategies between de Broglie on the one s…
In this work we develop a time-symmetric soliton theory for quantum particles inspired from works by de Broglie and Bohm. We consider explicitly a non-linear Klein-Gordon theory leading to monopolar oscillating solitons. We show that the theory is able to reproduce the main results of the pilot-wave interpretation for non interacting particles in a external electromagnetic field. In this regime, using the time symmetry of the theory, we are also able to explain quantum entanglement between several solitons and we reproduce the famous pilot-wave nonlocality associated with the de Broglie-Bohm t…
We present here solutions of a non-linear Schroedinger equation in presence of an arbitrary linear external potential. The non-linearity expresses a self-focusing interaction. These solutions are the product of the pilot wave with peaked solitons the velocity of which obeys the guidance equation derived by Louis de Broglie in 1926. The degree of validity of our approximations increases when the size of the soliton decreases and becomes negligible compared to the typical size over which the pilot wave varies. We discuss the possibility to reveal their existence by implementing a humpty-dumpty S…
Whence Nonlocality? Removing spooky action at a distance from the de Broglie Bohm pilot-wave theory using a time-symmetric version of de Broglie double solution
Numerical simulations indicate that the Born rule does not need to be postulated in the de Broglie-Bohm pilot-wave theory, but arises dynamically (relaxation to quantum equilibrium). These simulations were done for a particle in a two-dimensional box whose wave-function obeys the non-relativistic Schroedinger equation and is therefore scalar. The chaotic nature of the de Broglie-Bohm trajectories, thanks to the nodes of the wave-function which act as vortices, is crucial for a fast relaxation to quantum equilibrium. For spinors, we typically do not expect any node. However, in the case of the …
It is argued that the topological approach to the (anti-)symmetrisation condition for the quantum state of a collection of identical particles, defined in the `reduced' configuration space, is particularly natural from the perspective of de Broglie-Bohm pilot-wave theory.
We reply to claims (by Deutsch, Zeh, Brown and Wallace) that the pilot-wave theory of de Broglie and Bohm is really a many-worlds theory with a superfluous configuration appended to one of the worlds. Assuming that pilot-wave theory does contain an ontological pilot wave (a complex-valued field in configuration space), we show that such claims arise from not interpreting pilot-wave theory on its own terms. Specifically, the theory has its own ('subquantum') theory of measurement, and in general describes a 'nonequilibrium' state that violates the Born rule. Furthermore, in realistic models of …
Protective measurements which were defined by Aharonov and Vaidman in 1993 played an important role in the discussion about the interpretation of quantum mechanics. In 1999, following an early work by Englert et al., Aharonov et al. wrote an article in which they showed that protective measurements can be used to demonstrate the `surrealism' of Bohmian mechanics. Bohmian mechanics also known as pilot-wave interpretation is certainly the best-known hidden variable interpretation of quantum mechanics. It played a fundamental role in the discovery by Bell of his famous non locality theorem. There…
We account for the origin of the laws of quantum probabilities in the de Broglie-Bohm (pilot wave) formulation of quantum theory by considering the property of ergodicity likely to characterise the dynamics of microscopic quantum systems.
We propose an interpretative framework for quantum mechanics corresponding to the specifications of Louis de Broglie's double-solution theory. The principle is to decompose the evolution of a quantum system into two wave functions: an external wave function corresponding to the evolution of its center of mass and an internal wave function corresponding to the evolution of its internal variables in the center-of-mass system. Mathematical decomposition is only possible in certain cases because there are many interactions linking these two parts. In addition, these two wave functions will have di…
If the statement by Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen on incompleteness of Quantum-Mechanical description of nature is correct, then we can regard Quantum Mechanics as a Method of Indirect Computation. The problem is, whether the theory is incomplete or the nature itself does not allow complete description? And if the first option is correct, how is it possible to complete the Quantum-Mechanical description? Here we try to complement de-Broglie's idea on wave-pilot the stochastic gravitation gives origin to. We assume that de-Broglie's wave-pilots are gravitational stochastic ones, and we shall reg…
Since de Broglie's pilot wave theory was revived by David Bohm in the 1950's, the overwhelming majority of researchers involved in the field have focused on what is nowadays called de Broglie-Bohm dynamics and de Broglie's original double solution program was gradually forgotten. As a result, several of the key concepts in the theory are still rather vague and ill-understood. In the light of the progress achieved over the course of the 90 years that have passed since de Broglie's presentation of his ideas at the Solvay conference of 1927, we reconsider in the present paper the status of the do…
We compare and contrast two distinct approaches to understanding the Born rule in de Broglie-Bohm pilot-wave theory, one based on dynamical relaxation over time (advocated by this author and collaborators) and the other based on typicality of initial conditions (advocated by the 'Bohmian mechanics' school). It is argued that the latter approach is inherently circular and physically misguided. The typicality approach has engendered a deep-seated confusion between contingent and law-like features, leading to misleading claims not only about the Born rule but also about the nature of the wave fun…
The de Broglie-Bohm pilot wave interpretation of quantum mechanics is shown to provide a consistent explanation for a single relativistic particle (more accurately, a single particle process since pair production is addressed). This is accomplished by incorporating the Feynman-Stueckelberg interpretation of anti-matter. The lack of conserved probability and existence of negative energy solutions is studied through this interpretation. We discuss the resolution of Klein's original paradox through the pilot wave interpretation, and similarly analyze the potential barrier problem. Simulations are…
The aim of this article is reproduce and analyze an original article of David Bohm sent to Louis de Broglie in 1951. This article is the older document of David Bohm about his well known hidden variable theory based on the pilot wave interpretation of Louis de Broglie. We analyse the chronology and the history of this fascinating document.
The de Broglie-Bohm quantum trajectories are found in analytically closed forms for the eigenstates and the coherent state of the Lewis-Riesenfeld (LR) invariant of a time-dependent harmonic oscillator. It is also shown that an eigenstate (a coherent state) of an invariant can be interpreted as squeezed states obtained by squeezing an eigenstate (a coherent state) of another invariant. This provides ways for a whole description of squeezed states.
Recently, the properties of bouncing oil droplets, also known as "walkers", have attracted much attention because they are thought to offer a gateway to a better understanding of quantum behaviour. They constitute indeed a macroscopic realization of wave-particle duality, in the sense that their trajectories are guided by a self-generated surrounding wave. The aim of this paper is to develop a phenomenological theory for the behavior of walkers in terms of de Broglie-Bohm and Nelson dynamics. We study in particular how modifications of the de Broglie pilot-wave theory, à la Nelson, affect the …
The alternative pilot-wave theory of quantum phenomena -- associated especially with Louis de Broglie, David Bohm, and John Bell -- reproduces the statistical predictions of ordinary quantum mechanics, but without recourse to special \emph{ad hoc} axioms pertaining to measurement. That (and how) it does so is relatively straightforward to understand in the case of position measurements and, more generally, measurements whose outcome is ultimately registered by the position of a pointer. Despite a widespread belief to the contrary among physicists, the theory can also account successfully for p…
In 1927 Louis de Broglie proposed an alternative approach to standard quantum mechanics known as the double solution program (DSP) where particles are represented as bunched fields or solitons guided by a base (weaker) wave. DSP evolved as the famous de Broglie-Bohm pilot wave interpretation (PWI) also known as Bohmian mechanics but the general idea to use solitons guided by a base wave to reproduce the dynamics of the PWI was abandonned. Here we propose a nonlinear scalar field theory able to reproduce the PWI for the Schrödinger and Klein-Gordon guiding waves. Our model relies on a relativis…
The de Broglie - Bohm "pilot-wave" theory replaces the paradoxical wave-particle duality of ordinary quantum theory with a more mundane and literal kind of duality: each individual photon or electron comprises a quantum wave (evolving in accordance with the usual quantum mechanical wave equation) and a particle that, under the influence of the wave, traces out a definite trajectory. The definite particle trajectory allows the theory to account for the results of experiments without the usual recourse to additional dynamical axioms about measurements. Instead one need simply assume that particl…
We propose a pedagogical presentation of measurement in the de Broglie-Bohm interpretation. In this heterodox interpretation, the position of a quantum particle exists and is piloted by the phase of the wave function. We show how this position explains determinism and realism in the three most important experiments of quantum measurement: double-slit, Stern-Gerlach and EPR-B. First, we demonstrate the conditions in which the de Broglie-Bohm interpretation can be assumed to be valid through continuity with classical mechanics. Second, we present a numerical simulation of the double-slit experim…
The de~Broglie--Bohm (pilot wave) formulation of quantum theory appears to be free from the conceptual problems specific to quantum mechanics (problem of measurement) and to quantum cosmology (problem of time). We discuss the issue of quantum equilibrium which arises within its context. We then study the extension of this formulation to the case of gravity and demonstrate that the foliation of spacetime by space-like hypersurfaces obtained during the solution of the quantum problem turns out to be distinguished in general. This means that quantum pilot wave dynamics is not invariant with respe…
In 1923 Louis de Broglie (1892-1987) discovered the material waves and six years later received the Nobel price for this discovery. Apart these well known facts this French physicist nevertheless seems to be forgotten. Details of his life are as unknown as his efforts to describe quantum mechanics in a deterministic and objective way. Especially the actual discussion concerning the interpretation of quantum mechanics seems to justify a deeper occupation with the scientific work of Louis de Broglie. In this context the important influence of Albert Einstein is of special interest; for his photo…
The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of recent work on pilot-wave approaches to quantum field theory. In such approaches, systems are not only described by their wave function, as in standard quantum theory, but also by some additional variables. In the non-relativistic pilot-wave theory of de Broglie and Bohm those variables are particle positions. In the context of quantum field theory, there are two natural choices, namely particle positions and fields. The incorporation of those variables makes it possible to provide an objective description of nature in which rather ambiguo…
The ubiquitous ether coming from the ancient times up to middle of the twenty century is replaced by a superfluid quantum space. It represents by itself a Bose-Einstein condensate consisting of enormous amount of virtual particle-antiparticle pairs emerging and disappearing in an infinitely ongoing dance. Flowing of this medium in the non-relativistic limit is described by the modified Navier-Stokes equation along with the continuity equation. The first equation admits the splitting on to two coupled equations. They are the quantum Hamilton-Jacobi equation and the equation for vorticity. The q…
At the 1927 Solvay conference, three different theories of quantum mechanics were presented; however, the physicists present failed to reach a consensus. Today, many fundamental questions about quantum physics remain unanswered. One of the theories presented at the conference was Louis de Broglie's pilot-wave dynamics. This work was subsequently neglected in historical accounts; however, recent studies of de Broglie's original idea have rediscovered a powerful and original theory. In de Broglie's theory, quantum theory emerges as a special subset of a wider physics, which allows non-local sign…
In de Broglie and Bohm's pilot-wave theory, as is well known, it is possible to consider alternative particle dynamics while still preserving the quantum distribution. I present the analogous result for Nelson's stochastic theory, thus characterising the most general diffusion processes that preserve the quantum equilibrium distribution, and discuss the analogy with the construction of the dynamics for Bell's beable theories. I briefly comment on the problem of convergence to the quantum distribution and on possible experimental constraints on the alternative dynamics.
The "dynamical mismatch" observed in quantum systems in the semiclassical regime challenge the Pilot wave model. Indeed the dynamics and properties of such systems depend on the trajectories of the classically equivalent system, whereas the de Broglie-Bohm trajectories are generically non-classical.\ In this work we examine the situation for the model favoured by de Broglie, the theory of the Double Solution (DS). We will see that the original DS model applied to semiclassical systems is also prone to the dynamical mismatch.\ However we will argue that the DS theory can be modified in order to…
We define the de Broglie-Bohm (dBB) weak interpretation as the dBB interpretation restricted to particles in unbound states whose wave function is defined in the three-dimensional physical space, and the dBB strong interpretation as the usual dBB interpretation applied to all wave functions, in particular to particles in bound states whose wave function is defined in a 3N-dimensional configuration space in which N is the number of particules. We show that the current criticisms of the dBB interpretation do not apply to this weak interpretation and that, furthermore, there are theoritical and e…
We study the Majorana equation from the point of view of the de Broglie-Bohm pilot-wave theory (according to which a quantum ensemble of fermions is not only described by a spinor but also by a distribution of position configurations). Although the Majorana equation involves a mass parameter, we show that the positions undergo luminal motion. In the case of free systems, we also show that the trajectory can be strongly helical (the diameter of the helix being the Compton wavelength). On a coarse-grained level (coarse-graining with respect to the Compton wavelength), these trajectories appear s…
We illustrate through explicit numerical calculations how the Born-rule probability densities of non-relativistic quantum mechanics emerge naturally from the particle dynamics of de Broglie-Bohm pilot-wave theory. The time evolution of a particle distribution initially not equal to the absolute square of the wave function is calculated for a particle in a two-dimensional infinite potential square well. Under the de Broglie-Bohm ontology, the box contains an objectively-existing 'pilot wave' which guides the electron trajectory, and this is represented mathematically by a Schroedinger wave func…
The "main road" open by de Broglie's and Schroedinger's discovery of matter waves and of their eigen-functions branched off, as is well known, into different "sub-routes". The most widely accepted one is Standard Quantum Mechanics (SQM), interpreting the time-dependent Schroedinger equation as the basic evolution law of a wave-packet which represents the simultaneous probabilistic permanence of a particle in its full set of eigenstates. Another "sub-route" is offered by Bohm's Mechanics, able to reproduce the same results of SQM, while interpreting the stream-lines of the probability current d…
Of all basic principles of classical physics, realism should arguably be the last to be given up when seeking a better interpretation of quantum mechanics. We examine the de Broglie-Bohm pilot wave theory as a well developed example of a realistic theory. We present three challenges to a naive reading of pilot-wave theory, each based on a system of several entangled particles. With the help of a coarse graining of pilot wave theory into a discrete system, we show how these challenges can be answered. However this comes with a cost. In the description of individual systems, particles appear to …
We reconsider the crucial 1927 Solvay conference in the context of current research in the foundations of quantum theory. Contrary to folklore, the interpretation question was not settled at this conference and no consensus was reached; instead, a range of sharply conflicting views were presented and extensively discussed. Today, there is no longer an established or dominant interpretation of quantum theory, so it is important to re-evaluate the historical sources and keep the interpretation debate open. In this spirit, we provide a complete English translation of the original proceedings (lec…
Nonrelativistic quantum mechanics is commonly formulated in terms of wavefunctions (probability amplitudes) obeying the static and the time-dependent Schroedinger equations (SE). Despite the success of this representation of the quantum world a wave-particle duality concept is required to reconcile the theory with observations (experimental measurements). A first solution to this dichotomy was introduced in the de Broglie-Bohm theory according to which a pilot wave (solution of the SE) is guiding the evolution of particle trajectories. Here, I propose a geometrization of quantum mechanics that…
Local Scale Invariance in Quantum Theory: A Non-Hermitian Pilot-Wave Formulation
Georgia Gwinnett College(佐治亚格温内特学院);Institute for Quantum Studies, Chapman University(查普曼大学量子研究所);Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University(查普曼大学施密德科学与技术学院)
In the context of de Broglie-Bohm pilot-wave theory, violations of the Born rule are allowed and can be considered as describing nonequilibrium distributions. We study the effects of interactions on quantum relaxation towards equilibrium for a system of one-dimensional coupled harmonic oscillators. We show by numerical simulations that interactions can delay or even prevent complete relaxation for some initial states. We also discuss how this effect might be relevant for cosmological scenarios and how nonequilibrium could be detected in some models.
We show that quantum nonequilibrium (or deviations from the Born rule) can propagate nonlocally across space. Such phenomena are allowed in the de Broglie-Bohm pilot-wave formulation of quantum mechanics. We show that an entangled state can act as a channel whereby quantum nonequilibrium can be transferred nonlocally from one region to another without any classical interaction. This suggests a novel mechanism whereby information can escape from behind the classical event horizon of an evaporating black hole.
It is shown how, starting with the de Broglie - Bohm pilot-wave theory, one can construct a new theory of the sort envisioned by several of QM's founders: a Theory of Exclusively Local Beables (TELB). In particular, the usual quantum mechanical wave function (a function on a high-dimensional configuration space) is not among the beables posited by the new theory. Instead, each particle has an associated ``pilot-wave'' field (living in physical space). A number of additional fields (also fields on physical space) maintain what is described, in ordinary quantum theory, as ``entanglement.'' The t…