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arXiv:2303.10061

The nonlocal advection diffusion equation and the two-slit experiment in quantum mechanics

Glenn F. Webb

Published Mar 17, 2023• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

A partial differential equation model is analyzed for the two-slit experiment of quantum mechanics. The state variable of the equation is the probability density function of particle positions. The equation has a diffusion term corresponding to the random movement of particles, and a nonlocal advection term corresponding to the movement of particles in the transverse direction perpendicular to their forward movement. The model is compared to the Schrödinger equation model of the experiment. The model supports the ensemble interpretation of quantum mechanics.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2303.10061

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A partial differential equation model is analyzed for the two-slit experiment of quantum mechanics. The state variable of the equation is the probability density function of particle positions. The equation has a diffusion term corresponding to the random movement of particles, and a nonlocal advection term corresponding to the movement of particles in the transverse direction perpendicular to their forward movement. The model is compared to the Schrödinger equation model of the experiment. The model supports the ensemble interpretation of quantum mechanics.
We analyze a partial differential equation that models the two-slit experiment of quantum mechanics. The state variable of the equation is the probability density function of particle positions. The equation has a diffusion term corresponding to the random movement of particles, and a nonlocal advection term corresponding to the movement of particles in the transverse directionperpendicular to their forward movement. The model is compared to the Schrodinger equation model of the experiment. The model supports the ensemble interpretation of quantum mechanics. See also https://ejde.math.txstate.edu/special/02/w1/abstr.html
]. We rise to the challenge with an alternative to the wave function-centered interpretations: instead of a quantum wave passing through both slits, we have a localized particle with nonlocal interactions with the other slit. Key to this explanation is dynamical nonlocality, which naturally appears in the Heisenberg picture as nonlocal equations of motion. This insight led us to develop an approach to quantum mechanics which relies on pre- and postselection, weak measurements, deterministic, and modular variables. We consider those properties of a single particle that are deterministic to be primal. The Heisenberg picture allows us to specify the most complete enumeration of such deterministic properties in contrast to the Schrödinger wave function, which remains an ensemble property. We exercise this approach by analyzing a version of the double-slit experiment augmented with postselection, showing that only it and not the wave function approach can be accommodated within a time-symmetric interpretation, where interference appears even when the particle is localized. Although the Heisenberg and Schrödinger pictures are equivalent formulations, nevertheless, the framework presented here has led to insights, intuitions, and experiments that were missed from the old perspective.
In the context of quantum mechanics, Schrödinger's equation has many possible interpretations, none of which appear to be entirely satisfactory. One reason for this is that there is no known microscopic model which yields both Schrödinger's equation and an accompanying ‘sensible’ interpretation. In contrast to this the diffusion equation is well known as a phenomenological equation obtainable from the microscopic model of Brownian motion. In this case the microscopic model provides an unambiguous interpretation of the partial differential equation. In this article we review work which shows that Schrödinger's equation by itself is also easily obtained from a lattice random walk version of the Brownian motion model. In this system, Schrödinger's equation arises by projection and the interpretation of wave functions is as direct and unambiguous as the interpretation of density in the diffusion case. However the direct interpretation is compatible with quantum mechanics only in a statistical sense in the context of ensembles of particles. This shows that measurement theory is the aspect of quantum theory which harbours the problems of interpretation, and we suggest the study of this and related systems to clearly illuminate the boundary between dynamics and measurement.
The stochastic theory of non-relativistic quantum mechanics presented here relies heavily upon the theory of stochastic processes, with its definitions, theorems and specific vocabulary as well. Its main hypothesis states indeed that the classical trajectories of the particles are identical to the sample functions of a diffusion Markov process, whose conditional probability density is proposed as a substitute for the wave function. The Schroedinger equation and the so-called Nelson equations are used to determine the diffusion tensor and the drift vectors characteristic of such a process. It is then possible to write down the forward and backward Kolmogorov equations that are used to determine the conditional probability density, as well as the Fokker-Planck equation that is used to determine the normal probability density. This method is applied to several simple cases and the results obtained are compared with those of the orthodox theory. Among the most important differences let us mention that any system evolving freely from any original state returns spontaneously to its ground state, that the definitions of the particles velocities and momenta are impossible because the sample functions of a diffusion Markov process nowhere possess a derivative with respect to time and that the so-called collapse of the wave function is a mere mirage explained by the updating choice between new and older initial conditions in the resolution of partial differential equations. We finally attempt to extend the proposed theory to the domain of the relativistic quantum mechanics. It is promising but is clearly unfinished because it has not been possible up to now to solve the Nelson and Kolmogorov equations, except in the very simple case of a free particle.
The ensemble interpretation attributes the wave appearances of particles to their statistical characteristics. This has increasingly interested scientists. However, the ensemble interpretation is still not a scientific theory based on mathematics. Here, based on the double-slit experiment, a mathematical framework for the ensemble interpretation is constructed. The Schrodinger equation and the de-Broglie equation are also deduced. Analysis shows that the wave appearance of particles is caused by the statistical properties of these particles; the nature of the wave function is the average least action for the particles in a position.