Abstract We derive the quantum Einstein equations (which are the quantum generalisation of the Einstein equations of classical gravity) from Bohmian quantum gravity. Bohmian quantum gravity is a non-classical geometrodynamics (in the ADM formalism) which describes the time evolution of a three-geometry and of a matter field (or other matter degrees of freedom) on a three manifold. The evolution is determined by a velocity law which is defined by the wave function. The wave function itself satisfies the Wheeler–DeWitt equation. We cast the Bohmian dynamics into the form of the Einstein field equations, where the interesting novelty is a contribution to the energy–momentum tensor that depends on the quantum potential.
Abstract We derive the quantum Einstein equations (which are the quantum generalisation of the Einstein equations of classical gravity) from Bohmian quantum gravity. Bohmian quantum gravity is a non-classical geometrodynamics (in the ADM formalism) which describes the time evolution of a three-geometry and of a matter field (or other matter degrees of freedom) on a three manifold. The evolution is determined by a velocity law which is defined by the wave function. The wave function itself satisfies the Wheeler–DeWitt equation. We cast the Bohmian dynamics into the form of the Einstein field equations, where the interesting novelty is a contribution to the energy–momentum tensor that depends on the quantum potential.
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.
The de Broglie–Bohm theory allows us to have got a satisfactory geometrodynamic interpretation of quantum mechanics. The fundamental element, which creates a geometrodynamic picture of the quantum world in the non-relativistic domain, a relativistic curved space-time background, and the quantum gravity domain, is the quantum potential. It is shown that, in the non-relativistic domain, the geometrodynamic nature of the quantum potential followsfrom the fact that it is an information potential containing a space-like active information on the environment; the geometric properties of the space expressed by the quantum potential determine non-local correlations between subatomic particles. Moreover, in the de Broglie–Bohm theory in a curved space-time, it is shown that the quantum, as well as the gravitational, effects of matter have geometric nature and are highly related: the quantum potential can be interpreted as the conformal degree of freedom of the space-time metric, and its presence is equivalent to the curved space-time. It is shown on the basis of some recent research that, in quantum gravity, we have a generalized geometric unification of gravitational and quantum effects of matter; Bohm's interpretation shows that the form of a quantum potential and its relation to the conformal degree of freedom of the space-time metric can be derived from the equations of motion.
In this paper, the quantum dynamics was obtained in the framework of the general theory of relativity, where a quantum particle is described by a distribution of matter, with amplitude functions of the matter density, in the two conjugate spaces of the spatial coordinates and of the momentum, called wave functions. For a free particle, these wave functions are conjugate wave packets in the coordinate and momentum spaces, with time-dependent phases proportional to the relativistic Lagrangian, as the wave velocities in the coordinate space are equal to the distribution velocity described by the wave packet in this space. From the wave velocities of the particle wave functions, Lorentz’s force and the Maxwell equations were obtained. From the wave/group equation in the momentum space describing the Lorentz force, the expressions of the electric and magnetic fields as functions of the electric potential conjugated to time and of the vector potential conjugated to the coordinates in the particle-field Lagrangian were obtained. With these expressions, the electric and magnetic fields that satisfy the Faraday-Maxwell law of electromagnetic induction and the two Gauss-Maxwell laws of these fields were obtained. The Ampère-Maxwell law is obtained only by taking into account the physical consistency of the matter-field interaction of the equality of the propagation field velocity with the maximum relativistic velocity c. For a quantum particle in the electromagnetic field, dynamic equations in the coordinate and momentum spaces and the particle and antiparticle wave functions were obtained. It was shown that the electromagnetic potentials as functions of the coordinates describing the matter distribution of the quantum particle do not alter this distribution – under the action of an electromagnetic a quantum particle moves as a whole. The scattering or tunneling rate in an electromagnetic field, for the two possible cases, with the spin conservation, or inversion, were obtained. This description of a quantum particle as a distribution of matter with a density amplitude/wavefunction of the form of a wave packet, with the time-dependent phase proportional to the relativistic Lagrangian as a function of the metric tensor including also the gravitational field, enables the application of this theory in quantum gravity and quantum field theory in agreement with general relativity.
We explore the geodesic hypothesis of orbital trajectories of the electrons in hydrogenoid atoms, in the frame of de Broglie-Bohm quantum theory. It is intended that the space-time can be curved, at very short distances, by the effect of the joint action of the energy content of the atomic system and the contribution of the electric and quantum potentials. The geodesic hypothesis would explain the non-lose of energy in the electron orbital trajectories. So we explore a conception where particles and waves interact in a closed system: the waves guide the particles and the particles generate the spacetime perturbation that acts as a wave, beyond the pilot-wave theory. We establish the equivalence, in a local neighborhood, between the electron trajectory of an hydrogenoid atom in the Minkowskian space where the de Broglie-Bohm can be cast with its movement in a Lorentzian manifold, according to the concept of metric tangent. Through the geodesic condition and the invariance of the elemental length, we establish a relationship between some components of the metrics. But as the particles in microphysics do not follow the Einstein’s field equation, we consider the 3+1 decomposition according to ADM and the quantization in the Wheeler De Witt theory and with a so-called quantum Einstein field equation, with a decomposition of spacetime into three-dimensional sheets of a spatial character. Then we derive from the moment-energy tensor a further equation between the components of the metrics. It opens the avenue to characterize the metric by an exact solution of the Einstein’s field equations.
We propose an exploratory framework for a Bohmian model of quantum matter propagating on a classical curved spacetime background. The gravitational sector is governed by classical Einstein field equations throughout; no quantisation of spacetime is attempted. The wave function emerges as the scalar contraction Ψ=ψνψν∈C of a complex-valued tensorial field ψμ, encoding quantum dynamics in a geometric object. The wave tensor interacts with spacetime via the stress–energy tensor Tμν, mediated by a real scalar field a of dimension volume, so that aTμνψμψν yields the correct potential energy. We derive a covariant Adapted Schrödinger Equation as the unique minimal covariant lift of the standard equation, justify it from four guiding principles, and verify three internal consistency checks. Under seven explicit approximations the framework reproduces the Schrödinger equation with Coulomb potential for the hydrogen atom. We also derive a dynamical equation for ψμ that entails the Adapted Schrödinger Equation by contraction. Two open problems are then resolved. First, a complete Lagrangian formulation is provided: a real-valued action for Ψ yields the Adapted Schrödinger Equation via the Euler–Lagrange equations; a separate action for ψμ, extended by a non-polynomial term, yields the full dynamical equation variationally. Second, two experimental predictions are derived. Expanding to first post-Newtonian order, the perturbation Hamiltonian has coefficients (3, 1) on the kinetic and potential operators; via the virial theorem these produce a coordinate-time blueshift, which after photon propagation yields the universal Einstein gravitational redshift δν/ν=Φ/c2, confirming consistency with the equivalence principle. The same kinetic coefficient independently predicts that free quantum wave packets spread more slowly by the fractional amount 3|Φ|/c2, a correction absent in standard non-relativistic quantum mechanics.
Quantum gravity aims to describe gravity in quantum mechanical terms. How exactly this needs to be done remains an open question. Various proposals have been put on the table, such as canonical quantum gravity, loop quantum gravity, string theory, etc. These proposals often encounter technical and conceptual problems. In this chapter, we focus on canonical quantum gravity and discuss how many conceptual problems, such as the measurement problem and the problem of time, can be overcome by adopting a Bohmian point of view. In a Bohmian theory (also called pilot-wave theory or de Broglie-Bohm theory, after its originators de Broglie and Bohm), a system is described by certain variables in space-time such as particles or fields or something else, whose dynamics depends on the wave function. In the context of quantum gravity, these variables are a space-time metric and suitable variable for the matter fields (e.g., particles or fields). In addition to solving the conceptual problems, the Bohmian approach yields new applications and predictions in quantum cosmology. These include space-time singularity resolution, new types of semi-classical approximations to quantum gravity, and approximations for quantum perturbations moving in a quantum background.