The quantum-classical correspondence is studied for a periodically driven quartic oscillator exhibiting integrable and chaotic dynamics, by studying the Bohmian trajectory of the corresponding "classical" Schrödinger equation. Phase plots and the Kolmogorov-Sinai entropy are computed and compared with the classical trajectory as well as the Bohmian trajectory obtained from the time dependent Schrödinger equation. Bohmian mechanics at the classical limit appears to mimick the behavior of a dissipative dynamical system.
We consider a semiclassically scaled Schrödinger equation with WKB initial data. We prove that in the classical limit the corresponding Bohmian trajectories converge (locally in measure) to the classical trajectories before the appearance of the first caustic. In a second step we show that after caustic onset this convergence in general no longer holds. In addition, we provide numerical simulations of the Bohmian trajectories in the semiclassical regime that illustrate the above results.© 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A solution
ψ to Schrödinger's equation needs some degree of regularity in order to allow the construction of a Bohmian mechanics from the integral curves of the velocity field
ℏℑ(▽ψ/mψ). In the case of one specific non-differentiable weak solution
Ψ we show how Bohmian trajectories can be obtained for
Ψ from the trajectories of a sequence
Ψn→Ψ. (For any real
t the sequence $Ψ_{n}\left( t,\cdot \right) $ converges strongly.) The limiting trajectories no longer need to be differentiable. This suggests a way how Bohmian mechanics might work for arbitrary initial vectors
Ψ in the Hilbert space on which the Schrödinger evolution
acts.
It is often argued that measurable predictions of Bohmian mechanics cannot be distinguished from those of a theory with arbitrarily modified particle velocities satisfying the same equivariance equation. By considering the wave function of a closed system in a state with definite total energy, we argue that a distinction in measurable predictions is possible. Even though such a wave function is time-independent, the conditional wave function for a subsystem depends on time through the time-dependent particle trajectories not belonging to the subsystem. If these trajectories can be approximated by classical trajectories, then the conditional wave function can be approximated by a wave function which satisfies Schrodinger equation in a classical time-dependent potential, which is in good agreement with observations. However, such an approximation cannot be justified for particle velocities significantly deviating from the Bohmian ones, implying that Bohmian velocities are observationally preferred.
de Broglie-Bohm theory (dBBT), treating quantum particles as point objects moving along well defined (Bohmian) trajectories, offers an appealing solution of the measurement problem in quantum mechanics; it has, however, problems relating to spin, relativity and lack of proper integration with the Hilbert space based framework. In this work, we present a consistent formalism which has the traditional state-observable framework integrated with the desirable features of dBBT. We adopt ensemble interpretation for the Schrodinger wave function
ψ. Given a Schrodinger wave function
ψ, we use its value
ψ0 at some fixed time (say,
t=0) to define the probability measure
∣ψ0∣2dx on the system configuration space
M (
=Rn). On the resulting probability space
M0, we introduce a stochastic process
ξ(t) corresponding to the Heisenberg position operator
XH(t) such that, in the Heisenberg state
∣ψh⟩ corresponding to
ψ0, the expectation value of
XH(t) equals that of
ξ(t) in
M0. This condition leads to the de Broglie-Bohm guidance equation for the sample paths of the process
ξ(t) which are, therefore, Bohmian trajectories supposedly representing time-evolutions of individual members of the
ψ0-ensemble. Stochastic processes and Bohmian trajectories corresponding to observables with discrete eigenvalues (in particular spin) are treated by extending the configuration space to the spectral space of the commutative algebra obtained by adding appropriate discrete observables to the position observables. Pauli's equation is treated as an example. A straightforward derivation of von Neumann's projection rule employing the Schrodinger-Bohm evolution of individual systems along their Bohmian trajectories is given. Some comments on the potential application of the formalism developed here to quantum mechanics of the universe are included.