The evolution of the ideas of Louis de Broglie on the interpretation of wave mechanics

Bruce R. Wheaton

Georges Lochak

Olivier Rousselle

The Copenhagen interpretation has been the subject of much criticism, notably by De Broglie and Einstein, because it contradicts the principles of causality and realism. The aim of this essay is to study the wave mechanics as an alternative to traditional quantum mechanics, in the continuity of the ideas of Louis de Broglie: the pilot wave theory of De Broglie (where each particle is associated with a wave which guides it), De Broglie-Bohm theory, stochastic electrodynamics (where the stochastic character of particles is caused by the energy field of the fluctuating vacuum), and the analogies between quantum mechanics and hydrodynamics.

Georges Lochak

Jesús Unturbe

Louis de Broglie put forward the idea of wave-particle duality in 1923-24, less than two years before the advent of Quantum Mechanics. This last theory assumes that duality, but in a more abstract and counter-intuitive manner than de Broglie did. In this article the wave behavior of matter is presented in a didactic way following de Broglie´s ideas. This kind of presentation may (hopefully) be helpful to better understand the quantum features in a more intuitive way. It is shown that this wave mechanics, in the framework of the theory of relativity, is compatible with Planck´s quantum and explains as well the particle´s dynamics, provided the uncertainty relations are properly incorporated. The main difficulty with this view lies in its interpreting the wave as a non-local entity