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Quantum mechanics and the square root of the Brownian motion

Marco Frasca

Published Jan 1, 2014• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Using the Euler--Maruyama technique, we show that a class of Wiener processes exists that are obtained by computing an arbitrary positive power of them. This can be accomplished with a proper set of definitions that makes meaningful the realization at discrete times of these processes and make them computable. Then, we are able to show that quantum mechanics is not directly a stochastic process characterizing Brownian motion but rather its square root. Schr\odinger equation is immediately derived without further assumptions as the Fokker--Planck equation for this process. This generalizes without difficulty to a Clifford algebra that makes immediate the introduction of spin and a generalization to the Dirac equation. A relevant conclusion is that the introduction of spin is essential to recover the Brownian motion from its square root.

DOI
10.13140/2.1.2724.0002

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Using the Euler--Maruyama technique, we show that a class of Wiener processes exists that are obtained by computing an arbitrary positive power of them. This can be accomplished with a proper set of definitions that makes meaningful the realization at discrete times of these processes and make them computable. Then, we are able to show that quantum mechanics is not directly a stochastic process characterizing Brownian motion but rather its square root. Schr\odinger equation is immediately derived without further assumptions as the Fokker--Planck equation for this process. This generalizes without difficulty to a Clifford algebra that makes immediate the introduction of spin and a generalization to the Dirac equation. A relevant conclusion is that the introduction of spin is essential to recover the Brownian motion from its square root.
We prove a theorem showing that quantum mechanics is not directly a stochastic process characterizing Brownian motion but rather its square root. This implies that a complex-valued stochastic process is involved. Schrödinger equation is immediately derived without further assumptions using Itō integrals that are properly generalized. Fluctuations in space arise from a Brownian motion and the combined effect of a stochastic process with a symmetric Bernoulli distribution typical of tossing a coin.
Introduction. There exists a very comprehensive theory concerning the time development of probabilistic systems. This is the Theory of Stochastic processes (1). Quantum mechanics as described by the Schrödinger equation rests very heavily on probabilistic interpretation, and yet, after forty years of remarkably rapid advances and successes, it is not clear how it is related to stochastic theory. The formal similarity of certain aspects of, and equations used in these two theories are well known. The diffusion equation corresponds to the Schrödinger equation, a correspondence only marred by a square root of minus unity appearing with the time derivative in the latter equation. The Kolmogoroff–Chapman relation for probabilities in Brownian motion has an analogue (2) in quantum mechanics, not for probabilities though, but for the complex probability amplitudes. The uncertainty relation also has a stochastic analogue (3). Some of these analogous characteristics are actually symptomatic of the gulf which separates these two theories. There are solutions to the diffusion equation which have a very clear physical probabilistic meaning. This is not the case with the corresponding and formally similar solutions to the Schrödinger equation and is partly due to the √ − 1 mentioned earlier. The probabilistic interpretation of the solutions to the diffusion equation is direct and immediate. On the other hand, the probabilistic interpretation of the solutions, ψ of the Schrödinger equation involve the introduction of the probability density, p = ψ*ψ. One great difference between these two theories lies in their each having distinct principles of linear superposition. In Stochastic Theory probabilities are superposed and in quantum mechanics amplitudes or wave functions are superposed.
We first point out that nonrelativistic quantum mechanics formulated at imaginary time s = it can formally be recognized as the Fokker-Planck description of a classical Brownian motion, which occurs (in general) in a medium where particles are absorbed and emitted. We next offer a new formulation of quantum dynamics, which is basically the Langevin treatment of that Brownian motion. More explicitly, we derive a noise average representation of the transition probability W ( X", s"|X', s' ) in terms of the solutions to a Langevin equation with a Gaussian white noise. Upon analytic continuation back to real time W ( X", s"|X', s' ) becomes the propagator of the original Schrödinger equation, namely we have ⟨ X", t"|X', t' ⟩ = W ( X", it"|X', it' ). The main advantage of this approach is to permit a systematic application to quantum-dynamical problems of the mathematical techniques developed in the theory of classical stochastic processes, even when vector potentials and/or time-dependent potentials are present.
where m is the particle mass at rest, c is the speed of light, p is the particle momentum and U is a potential. The root in Eq. (1) complicates substantially the way of quantizing the relativistic motion. In the literature there are two important solutions of this problem: the Klein-Gordon and Dirac equations. Their complex mathematical structures and some problems with definition of the probability density make it difficult to extend these equations for description of relativistic quantum Brownian motion. Moreover, it is not clear if the non-relativistic energy ˆ t E i   and momentum p i   operators, used in quantizing of Eq. (1), are valid in the relativistic quantum mechanics as well. The present paper proposes an alternative approach via a relativistic Wigner-Klein-Kramers equation. The quantum Brownian motion is described by the Madelung quantum hydrodynamics [4] coupled to the Breit-Fermi Hamiltonian. According to the relativistic dynamics the stochastic Langevin equation for a classical relativistic particle moving in a classical non-relativistic environment acquires the form
It is shown that a stochastic process can be viewed as a set of states (normalized positive linear functionals) over an Abelian C*-algebra. Alternatively, the stochastic process can be associated with a set of representations of the algebra as a subalgebra of the (noncommutative) C*-algebra of bounded operators in a Hilbert space. Then, an operator equation can be associated with every stochastic equation in some general conditions. The formalism is applied to Brownian motion. Then, we study the nonrelativistic motion of a single particle in stochastic electrodynamics, a theory which has been proposed as a possible alternative to quantum mechanics. The equations of motion, which are derived, coincide with the basic ones of quantum mechanics. The differences between this theory and quantum mechanics are summarized.
It has long been recognized that the dynamics of linear quantum systems is classical in the Wigner representation. Yet many conceptually important linear problems are typically analyzed using such generally applicable techniques as influence functionals and Bogoliubov transformations. In this Letter we point out that the classical equations of motion provide a simpler and more intuitive formalism for linear quantum systems. We examine the important problem of Brownian motion in the independent oscillator model, and show that the quantum dynamics is described directly and completely by a c-number Langevin equation. We are also able to apply recent insights into quantum Brownian motion to show that the classical Fokker-Planck equation is always local in time, regardless of the spectral density of the environment.