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arXiv:2604.25048

Bohmian Trajectories in a Bistable Potential Well

O. F. de Alcantara Bonfim

quant-phnlin.CDSubmitted Apr 27, 2026• Announced Apr 29, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

We analyze the dynamics of a quantum particle in a one-dimensional bistable potential within the framework of Bohm's quantum mechanics. We give arguments that evidence the fallacy of certain claims found in the literature dealing with the impossibility of chaotic behavior of Bohmian trajectories in one-dimensional systems. We find that an appropriate choice for the initial position and wave packet causes the particle to undergo periodic, quasiperiodic, or chaotic motion. The transitions between these regimes occur in a continuos fashion.

Comments
5 pages, 4 figures

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We analyze the dynamics of a quantum particle in a one-dimensional bistable potential within the framework of Bohm's quantum mechanics. We give arguments that evidence the fallacy of certain claims found in the literature dealing with the impossibility of chaotic behavior of Bohmian trajectories in one-dimensional systems. We find that an appropriate choice for the initial position and wave packet causes the particle to undergo periodic, quasiperiodic, or chaotic motion. The transitions between these regimes occur in a continuos fashion.
We study the dynamics of a quantum particle in a double square-well potential within a deterministic framework using Bohm's quantum mechanics. Phase portraits, Fourier spectral analysis, Poincar\'e sections, and Lyapunov exponents clearly indicate that the particle undergoes periodic, quasiperiodic, and chaotic motions depending on the initial form of the wave packet. We also make a detailed comparison between the predictions of the present approach and those of conventional quantum mechanics for the same problem.
Abstract Bohmian mechanics is an alternative formulation of quantum mechanics that maintains the notion of a well-defined trajectory governed by the wave function. The extra potential in this framework called quantum potential plays an important role in determining the dynamics of the Bohmian trajectory. In this study, we examine numerically the characteristics of a rational frequency system near a moving nodal point and how quantum potential plays an important role in generating chaotic motion for a specific mixture of wavefunction amplitudes. We show the transition from a regular to a chaotic trajectory when there is an abrupt change of quantum potential near the nodal point. This phenomenon occurs in the centre where the value of quantum potential is much higher than classical potential.
Bohmian mechanics is a causal interpretation of quantum mechanics in which there are well-defined particle trajectories guided by the wave function. Within this framework, it is shown that certain classical integrable systems can exhibit both periodic and chaotic behaviours. In this paper, we extend the work of Borondo et al. by investigating the behaviours of commensurate two-dimensional harmonic oscillator systems with different ratios of frequencies. We show that the system may produce chaotic behavior of Bohmian trajectories to be dependenton frequencies ratio. This result is illustrated numerically in computer experiments displaying the Bohmian trajectories.
The dynamics of a particle in square and circular billiards is studied within the framework of Bohm's quantum mechanics. While conventional quantum mechanics predicts that the system shows no indication of chaotic behavior for these geometries from either the eigenvalue spectra distribution or the structure of the eigenfunctions, we find that in Bohm's quantum mechanics these systems exhibit both regular and chaotic behavior, depending on the form of the initial wave packet and on the particle's initial position.
Bohmian mechanics is a causal interpretation of quantum mechanics in which particles describe trajectories guided by the wave function. The dynamics in the vicinity of nodes of the wave function, usually called vortices, is regular if they are at rest. However, vortices generically move during time evolution of the system. We show that this movement is the origin of chaotic behavior of quantum trajectories. As an example, our general result is illustrated numerically in the two-dimensional isotropic harmonic oscillator.
Bohmian mechanics is a causal interpretation of quantum mechanics in which particles describe trajectories guided by the wave function. The dynamics in the vicinity of nodes of the wave function, usually called vortices, is regular if they are at rest. However, vortices generically move during time evolution of the system. We show that this movement is the origin of chaotic behavior of quantum trajectories. As an example, our general result is illustrated numerically in the two-dimensional isotropic harmonic oscillator. © EDP Sciences.