This study discusses the quantum behavior of a particle, which is controlled by fluctuations in the physical space-time (ST) variables, rather than provides a novel interpretation of quantum theory. The fluctuations, i.e., inhomogeneities in a homogeneous phase ST, are prescribed by their probability. They determine the reciprocal space and correlate with the correlation entropy different from zero. Alongside with the minimum entropy, action, and the presence of the Winn-Ehrenfest adiabatic invariant (AI), the fluctuations require the Gilbert information (probabilistic) space linking the physical and the reciprocal ST. Physical quantities in the information space are represented by linear Hermitian operators, which is due to the entropy production in the presence of an AI. Evolution of a quantum system is described by the wave functions having the meaning of information concerning all virtually possible states of a quantum particle. The wave functions are the solutions to the Schrodinger equation and represent a navigation 'roadmap' for the particle to follow. A quantum system is in fact a classical Hamiltonian system in the space of coefficients of the wave function decomposition with respect to the operator eigenfunctions. It is the linearity and the Hermitian nature of the operators which determine the trajectory and the superposition principle in case of the wave behavior of fluctuations. The uncertainty principle, reflects correlation of the fluctuations and, hence, their nonlocality. This study discusses the wave function phase, the Berry phase and its relationship to quantization, discriminability of states and macroscopic quantum effects caused by localization of the particle, followed by a possible entropy change during its transition into a new thermodynamic state.
This study discusses the quantum behavior of a particle, which is controlled by fluctuations in the physical space-time (ST) variables, rather than provides a novel interpretation of quantum theory. The fluctuations, i.e., inhomogeneities in a homogeneous phase ST, are prescribed by their probability. They determine the reciprocal space and correlate with the correlation entropy different from zero. Alongside with the minimum entropy, action, and the presence of the Winn-Ehrenfest adiabatic invariant (AI), the fluctuations require the Gilbert information (probabilistic) space linking the physical and the reciprocal ST. Physical quantities in the information space are represented by linear Hermitian operators, which is due to the entropy production in the presence of an AI. Evolution of a quantum system is described by the wave functions having the meaning of information concerning all virtually possible states of a quantum particle. The wave functions are the solutions to the Schrodinger equation and represent a navigation 'roadmap' for the particle to follow. A quantum system is in fact a classical Hamiltonian system in the space of coefficients of the wave function decomposition with respect to the operator eigenfunctions. It is the linearity and the Hermitian nature of the operators which determine the trajectory and the superposition principle in case of the wave behavior of fluctuations. The uncertainty principle, reflects correlation of the fluctuations and, hence, their nonlocality. This study discusses the wave function phase, the Berry phase and its relationship to quantization, discriminability of states and macroscopic quantum effects caused by localization of the particle, followed by a possible entropy change during its transition into a new thermodynamic state.
Non-relativistic quantum theory is derived from information codified into an appropriate statistical model. The basic assumption is that there is an irreducible uncertainty in the location of particles so that the configuration space is a statistical manifold. The dynamics then follows from a principle of inference, the method of Maximum Entropy. The concept of time is introduced as a convenient way to keep track of change. The resulting formalism is close to Nelson’s stochastic mechanics. The statistical manifold is a dynamical entity: its (information) geometry determines the evolution of the probability distribution which, in its turn, reacts back and determines the evolution of the geometry. As in General Relativity there is a kind of equivalence principle in that “fictitious ” forces – in this case diffusive “osmotic ” forces – turn out to be “real”. This equivalence of quantum and statistical fluctuations – or of quantum and classical probabilities – leads to a natural explanation of the equality of inertial and “osmotic ” masses and allows explaining quantum theory as a sophisticated example of entropic inference. Mass and the phase of the wave function are explained as features of purely statistical origin.
We address the paradoxical transformation of a classical-mechanical particle motion when the space and time scales of observation pass below the uncertainty principle threshold. This is analyzed in the language of classical statistical mechanics, considering specifically many-particle systems inhomogeneous along one spatial direction. We employ the density functional formalism in its square-gradient form and find: (i) The macroscopic solution is analogous to the classical trajectory of a particle under a potential of force given by (minus) the free energy density. Whereas, (ii) fluctuations around the solution in (i) are equal to the quantum-mechanical wave functions of a particle under a potential given by the curvature of the free energy density. We illustrate this situation with three textbook examples: A particle in a box, the harmonic oscillator, and the hydrogen atom. We show that their time-independent Schrödinger equation wave functions describe, respectively, the fluctuations of a fluid interface, of critical point fluctuations, and of a confined ideal gas. At large scales, sharp probability distributions make fluctuations irrelevant; the vanishing of the first variation yields the macroscopically observable statistical-mechanical non-uniformity, equivalent to the classical particle trajectory. But at sufficiently small scales, with necessarily very few particles, distributions appear much wider, fluctuations dominate, and one obtains the Schrödinger equation (for the microscopic potential).
Quantum mechanics is derived as an application of the method of maximum entropy. No appeal is made to any underlying classical action principle whether deterministic or stochastic. Instead, the basic assumption is that in addition to the particles of interest x there exist extra variables y whose entropy S(x) depends on x. The Schr\"odinger equation follows from their coupled dynamics: the entropy S(x) drives the dynamics of the particles x while they in their turn determine the evolution of S(x). In this "entropic dynamics" time is introduced as a device to keep track of change. A welcome feature of such an entropic time is that it naturally incorporates an arrow of time. Both the magnitude and the phase of the wave function are given statistical interpretations: the magnitude gives the distribution of x in agreement with the usual Born rule and the phase carries information about the entropy S(x) of the extra variables. Extending the model to include external electromagnetic fields yields further insight into the nature of the quantum phase.
It is the matter of fact that quantum mechanics operates with notions that are not determined in the frame of the mechanics' formalism. Among them we can call the notion of "wave-particle" (that, however, does not appear in both classical and high energy physics), the probabilistic interpretation of the Schroedinger wave ψ-function and hence the probability amplitude and its phase, long-range action, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, the passage to the so-called operators of physical values, etc. Orthodox quantum mechanics was constructed as a physical theory developed in the phase space of the mentioned notions. That is why the formalism of quantum mechanics is aimed only at detailed calculations of the stationary states of the energy of the quantum system studied and is not able to describe a real path running by the system in the real space; instead, the formalism gives an averaged probabilistic prediction. Thus, if we are able to develop quantum mechanics in the real space, an option to clarify all the difficulties associated with the above notions would appear. Such a theory of quantum mechanics developed in the real space in fact has recently been constructed by the author. The theory started from deeper first principles, namely, from the consideration of the notion of a 4D space-time. So, the notion of fundamental particle, the principles of the motion of a particle and other characteristics have been made clear. The theory, rather a submicroscopic one, is characterized by short-range action that automatically means the introduction of a new kind of carriers, i.e. carriers of the quantum mechanical force. The existence of the carriers called "inertons" (because they carry inert properties of matter) has indeed been verified in a number of experiments.
Since the early twentieth century, quantum mechanics has sought an interpretation that offers a consistent worldview. In the course of that, many proposals were advanced, but all of them introduce, at some point, interpretation elements (semantics) that find no correlate in the formalism (syntactics). This distance from semantics and syntactics is one of the major reasons for finding so abstruse and diverse interpretations of the formalism. To overcome this issue, we propose an alternative stochastic interpretation, based exclusively on the formal structure of the Schrödinger equation, without resorting to external assumptions such as the collapse of the wave function or the role of the observer. We present four (mathematically equivalent) mathematical derivations of the Schrödinger equation based on four constructs: characteristic function, Boltzmann entropy, Central Limit Theorem (CLT), and Langevin equation. All of them resort to axioms already interpreted and offer complementary perspectives to the quantum formalism. The results show the possibility of deriving the Schrödinger equation from well-defined probabilistic principles and that the wave function represents a probability amplitude in the configuration space, with dispersions linked to the CLT. It is concluded that quantum mechanics has a stochastic support, originating from the separation between particle and field subsystems, allowing an objective description of quantum behavior as a mean-field theory, analogous, but not equal, to Brownian motion, without the need for arbitrary ontological entities.
In this thesis, we study the nonadditive quantum mechanics (NAQM), which is a theory developed from first principles in order to understand the effects of the space metric in the quantum theory. In non-Euclidean spaces, the translation of length ∆x does not necessarily take a particle from the position x to x + ∆x. The result of this translation depends on the metric. This is the starting point for the development of the NAQM. Through a redefinition of the translation operator, we obtain new commutation relations between the position operator and the momentum operator, and a Schrödinger-like equation which describes the time evolution of the state of a particle. We show that this equation, with appropriate boundary conditions, can be seen as a Sturm-Liouville problem, ensuring that the energies of the particle are real and that the eigenstates of the hamiltonian are orthonormal and form a basis in the space of the states. In spite of these modifications, we show the determinism in the time evolution, the superposition principle and the local and global probability conservation remain valid. On the other hand, we generalize the Ehrenfest theorem, showing that, for the average values of the physical quantities, the NAQM is identical to the classical mechanics in a non-inertial reference frame, and we demonstrate the existence of a nonzero minimum uncertainty for the momentum. Besides, we investigate, classically as well as quantically, the dynamical effects of the metric in the time evolution of a free particle. In order to perform the quantum simulation, we adapt the split operator technique to solve numerically the new Schrödinger equation. Lastly, we explore the possibility of mapping of several physical problems of different nature through the arising of an effective potential which appears due to a simple change of coordinates.