In objective gravitational reduction of the wave function of a quantum system, the classical limit of the system is obtained in terms of the objective properties of the system. On the other hand, in Bohmian quantum mechanics the usual criterion for getting classical limit is the vanishing of the quantum potential or the quantum force of the system, which suffers from the lack of an objective description. In this regard, we investigated the usual criterion of getting the classical limit of a free particle in Bohmian quantum mechanics. Then we argued how it is possible to have an objective gravitational classical limit related to the Bohmian mechanical concepts like quantum potential or quantum force. Also we derived a differential equation related to the wave function reduction. An interesting connection will be made between Bohmian mechanics and gravitational concepts.
In objective gravitational reduction of the wave function of a quantum system, the classical limit of the system is obtained in terms of the objective properties of the system. On the other hand, in Bohmian quantum mechanics the usual criterion for getting classical limit is the vanishing of the quantum potential or the quantum force of the system, which suffers from the lack of an objective description. In this regard, we investigated the usual criterion of getting the classical limit of a free particle in Bohmian quantum mechanics. Then we argued how it is possible to have an objective gravitational classical limit related to the Bohmian mechanical concepts like quantum potential or quantum force. Also we derived a differential equation related to the wave function reduction. An interesting connection will be made between Bohmian mechanics and gravitational concepts.
In this study, we use the concept of Bohmian trajectories to present a dynamical and deterministic interpretation for the gravity-induced wave function reduction. We shall classify all possible regimes for the motion of a particle, based on the behavior of trajectories in the ensemble and under the influence of quantum and gravitational forces. In the usual approaches all the information is obtained from the wave function evolution. But, on the basis of Bohm’s deterministic quantum theory, we can investigate the motion of the particle during the reduction processes. This leads to analytical and numerical results for the reduction time and equation of motion of the particle. In this regard, a new visualization will be provided for the reduction time.
In this research, we study the gravitational reduction of the wave function, which has been investigated in standard quantum mechanics. As a new look at the problem, we investigate the reduction of the wave function by studying the dynamics of the particle motion, which can be defined in the quantum Bohmian framework. In this regard, quantities such as the critical mass of reduction, reduction time, and reduction temperature, which are similar to the Unruh temperature, are systematically obtained.
Semi-classical theories are approximations to quantum theory that treat some degrees of freedom classically and others quantum mechanically. In the usual approach, the quantum degrees of freedom are described by a wave function which evolves according to some Schrödinger equation with a Hamiltonian that depends on the classical degrees of freedom. The classical degrees of freedom satisfy classical equations that depend on the expectation values of quantum operators. In this paper, we study an alternative approach based on Bohmian mechanics. In Bohmian mechanics the quantum system is not only described by the wave function, but also with additional variables such as particle positions or fields. By letting the classical equations of motion depend on these variables, rather than the quantum expectation values, a semi-classical approximation is obtained that is closer to the exact quantum results than the usual approach. We discuss the Bohmian semi-classical approximation in various contexts, such as nonrelativistic quantum mechanics, quantum electrodynamics and quantum gravity. The main motivation comes from quantum gravity. The quest for a quantum theory for gravity is still going on. Therefore a semi-classical approach where gravity is treated classically may be an approximation that already captures some quantum gravitational aspects. The Bohmian semi-classical theories will be derived from the full Bohmian theories. In the case there are gauge symmetries, like in quantum electrodynamics or quantum gravity, special care is required. In order to derive a consistent semi-classical theory it will be necessary to isolate gauge-independent dependent degrees of freedom from gauge degrees of freedom and consider the approximation where some of the former are considered classical.
Short introduction to Bohmian mechanics Sheldon Goldstein in a Foundations of Physics paper [1] indicates (p. 341): “Since macroscopic objects are normally regarded as built out of microscopic constituents …there can be no problem of macroscopic reality per se in Bohmian mechanics.” Goldstein in the same paper remarks (p. 342) that this | ψ | 2 has “a status very much the same as that of a thermodynamic equilibrium.” Basil Hiley the closest collaborator of David Bohm, says the following (Hiley [2] (p. 2)): “What Bohm (1952a; 1952b) did was to show how to retain a description of all the usual properties of a classical world and yet remain completely within the quantum formalism.” The Bohm (1952) [3] [4] references in that quote refer to the original work of Bohm in which he sets out the basics of the Bohmian mechanics. As we will see later in the next section of this chapter, the appearance of an “additional term” in the Hamilton-Jacobi equation, is the hallmark of Bohmian mechanics and it is very often termed the “quantum potential.” Hiley [2] (p. 2) remarks that since the Bohmian momentum is a well-defined function of position and time, an ensemble of trajectories can be found when the quantum potential is non-zero. A unique, classical path is found when the quantum potential is zero. From the outset, we hope the reader can savor the beauty of this simple but very powerful result. Bohmian mechanics indeed shows this very gentle transition from quantum mechanics to classical mechanics via the value of the quantum potential.
We propose a new way to unify General Relativity (GR) with Bohmian Mechanics (BM) that remains faithful to GR’s tensorial and deterministic philosophy. In our approach, the conventional quantum wave function emerges as the scalar contraction of a tensorial field ψμ, namely Ψ=ψνψν, thereby encoding quantum dynamics in a geometric object. Crucially, the tensor ψν interacts directly with spacetime via the stress-energy tensor, with an auxiliary vector field aμ serving as the mediator between the quantum and gravitational sectors.We analyze the equations for one single particle without accounting for spin. As an illustrative example, we show that under suitable approximations our formulation reproduces the non-relativistic Schr\"odinger equation with a Coulomb potential\textemdash as encountered in the hydrogen atom. We further establish a dynamical equation for ψν and a corresponding volume-like equation for aμ.
We outline how Bohmian mechanics works: how it deals with various issues in the foundations of quantum mechanics and how it is related to the usual quantum formalism. We then turn to some objections to Bohmian mechanics, for example the fact that in Bohmian mechanics there is no back action of particle configurations upon wave functions. These lead us to our main concern: a more careful consideration of the meaning of the wave function in quantum mechanics, as suggested by a Bohmian perspective. We propose that the reason, on the universal level, that there is no action of configurations upon wave functions, as there seems to be between all other elements of physical reality, is that the wave function of the universe is not an element of physical reality. We propose that the wave function belongs to an altogether different category of existence than that of substantive physical entities, and that its existence is nomological rather than material. We propose, in other words, that the wave function is a component of physical law rather than of the reality described by the law.