By re-expressing the generalized Schrodinger equation in its coordinate representation in terms of amplitude and phase of the state vector, a quantum-mechanical change of a system can be made to correspond to an ensemble of classical motions of the system to which is added some internal potential. This ensemble may be taken as the statistical. This enables an alternative formulation of quantum mechanics with which is associated that classical picture. Such a formulation leads, however, if developed straightforwardly according to the picture, to a theoretical scheme quite different from that of ordinary quantum mechanics concerning the problems other than the equation of motion. Furthermore, this formulation is not applicable to Fermions when spin, or exclusion principle is taken into account. Bohm's recent renewed form of the statistical interpretation of quantum mechanics referring to this formulation is criticized in several points. On this formulation we can construct a singular ensemble which is shown to correspond to the transformation kernel of the wave function to infinitesimally later instant, and thus a connection between this formulation and that of Feynman's is taken out. Hydrodynamical picture formally equivalent to the statistical picture in one-body problems is also considered, and from such analogy certain formal generalization of Schrodinger equation is suggested.
By re-expressing the generalized Schrodinger equation in its coordinate representation in terms of amplitude and phase of the state vector, a quantum-mechanical change of a system can be made to correspond to an ensemble of classical motions of the system to which is added some internal potential. This ensemble may be taken as the statistical. This enables an alternative formulation of quantum mechanics with which is associated that classical picture. Such a formulation leads, however, if developed straightforwardly according to the picture, to a theoretical scheme quite different from that of ordinary quantum mechanics concerning the problems other than the equation of motion. Furthermore, this formulation is not applicable to Fermions when spin, or exclusion principle is taken into account. Bohm's recent renewed form of the statistical interpretation of quantum mechanics referring to this formulation is criticized in several points. On this formulation we can construct a singular ensemble which is shown to correspond to the transformation kernel of the wave function to infinitesimally later instant, and thus a connection between this formulation and that of Feynman's is taken out. Hydrodynamical picture formally equivalent to the statistical picture in one-body problems is also considered, and from such analogy certain formal generalization of Schrodinger equation is suggested.
The formulation of quantum mechanics in terms of the picture of trajectory ensemble or of the hydrodynamical picture, developed in a previous article, is further supplemented for some points. Individual trajectories for some typical non-stationary state are explicitly obtained, illustrating that they generally show complicated fluctuations due to the action of quantum potential. Next, emphasis is placed on the fact that the Schrödinger field admits a mechanical model. Also the Klein-Gordon field is represented with a quasi-irrotational flow under some additional scalar field. This representation of Klein-Gordon field suggests its possible generalization to include the vortical motion. Such treatments of interacting Klein-Gordon and electromagnetic fields involve the formalism of Dirac's recent classical electrodynamics as a limiting case. Some remarks are given on this Dirac's theory. Finally, the picture of trajectory ensemble is generalized so as to represent wave equations with sources. In an appendix criticism is given on the attempt to interpret quantum mechanics in terms of Markoff process.
An attempt is made to interpret quantum mechanics as a statistical theory, or more exactly as a form of non-deterministic statistical dynamics. The paper falls into three parts. In the first, the distribution functions of the complete set of dynamical variables specifying a mechanical system (phase-space distributions), which are fundamental in any form of statistical dynamics, are expressed in terms of the wave vectors of quantum theory. This is shown to be equivalent to specifying a theory of functions of non-commuting operators, and may hence be considered as an interpretation of quantum kinematics . In the second part, the laws governing the transformation with time of these phase-space distributions are derived from the equations of motion of quantum dynamics and found to be of the required form for a dynamical stochastic process. It is shown that these phase-space transformation equations can be used as an alternative to the Schrödinger equation in the solution of quantum mechanical problems, such as the evolution with time of wave packets, collision problems and the calculation of transition probabilities in perturbed systems; an approximation method is derived for this purpose. The third part, quantum statistics , deals with the phase-space distribution of members of large assemblies, with a view to applications of quantum mechanics to kinetic theories of matter. Finally, the limitations of the theory, its uniqueness and the possibilities of experimental verification are discussed.
A previous derivation of the single-particle Schrödinger equation from statistical assumptions is generalized to an arbitrary number N of particles moving in three-dimensional space. Spin and gauge fields are also taken into account. It is found that the same statistical assumptions that imply Schrödinger's equation determine also the form of the gauge coupling terms, and the form of the corresponding local (Lorentz) forces. An explanation for the role of the electrodynamic potentials, as statistical representatives of the Lorentz force, is given. For a single particle, spin one-half is introduced as the property of a statistical ensemble to respond to an external gauge field in two different ways. A generalized calculation, using the twofold number of variables, leads to Pauli's equation. The new spin term is again the statistical representative of the corresponding local force. For a N-particle system, spin is introduced as a consequence of gauge coupling.The classical limit ℏ→0 of Schrödinger's equation and closely related questions of interpretation of the quantum mechanical formalism are discussed.
It is shown that application of the time-dependent variational principle to trial wave functions of a particular form results in a description of the quantum system as a classical system consisting of two mutually interacting parts: the ordinary classical analog of the quantum system and a (generally finite) number of additional degrees of freedom. This holds out the prospect of simulating quantum dynamics by coupling the corresponding classical system to additional degrees of freedom, and it is pointed out that such calculations have, in effect, already been performed. Since the trial wave functions that qualify for this treatment may be arbitrarily accurate, there is no limitation to the accuracy of the resulting classical description. In a particular case, the canonical coordinates and momenta for all degrees of freedom of the overall classical system are identified and investigated. In general, certain parameters appearing in the trial wave functions treated in this work may become redundant at certain times, leading to singularities in the Hamiltonian equations of motion. It is shown, however, that in certain such cases, a classical formalism for the quantum dynamics remains valid if the Hamiltonian function is suitably modified. Calculations applying the present Hamiltonian formalism are carried out that demonstrate that it has better convergence properties than an alternative, nonvariational, Hamiltonian technique suggested by previous work. These numerical studies also suggest that the observed spreading of wave packets and development of complicated structure in wave functions may be interpreted classically in terms of energy transfer among the various degrees of freedom in the overall classical system.
Striking parallelism between classical mechanics and quantum mechanics is evidenced for several bound system in a rather general form by introducing reasonably “quantum-mechanical momentum” from the Schrödinger equation. The following are proved: The “quantum-mechanical momentum” which is nearly equal to the corresponding classical momentum in “classical region” can be defined in the whole range of validity of the coordinate for the bound systems. In the same way as in classical mechanics, in quantum mechanics one can construct an associated wave accompanying a motion of a quantum particle and obeying the Schrödinger equation. The uniqueness condition on the associated wave throughout an orbit leads to the boundary condition on the wave function which is composed of the associated wave and to “quantum-mechanical quantization condition”, equivalently. In addition, all these quantum-mechanical quantities are approximately equal to the corresponding classical ones in the “classical region” of the coordinate. In particular it is demonstrated that even for a bound system of a singular (central) potential exists the ground state with the lowest energy eigenvalue. It is proved in one dimension that to any physical system obeying the Schrödinger equation always exists the corresponding classical system.
Abstract It is well known that a new form of statistical mechanics has been recently developed by Einstein for an ideal gas of structureless mass-points. This starts from a discussion by Bose of the laws of temperature radiation based on the light quantum hypothesis, and has been further analysed by Schrödinger. Yet another new form has been proposed independently by Fermi and Dirac. The latter based his theory on a discussion of lightly coupled systems with the help of Schrödinger’s equation. Combined with Heisenberg’s work on the many-body problem, Dirac’s work forces us to conclude at least that the classical form of statistical mechanics must be changed. It indicates that the true form, which satisfies the laws of the new mechanics, is almost certainly that of Fermi and Dirac, which is the natural generalization of Pauli’s principle of exclusion for electronic orbits in an atom. The work of Heisenberg and Dirac already quoted has shown that Pauli’s principle and its extension are satisfied in the new mechanics by a complete self-consistent solution of the equations of motion. So far as I am aware, the discussions of the new forms have as yet dealt only with the statistics of a gas of structureless mass-points (and, of course, temperature radiation). There has, moreover, been as yet no attempt to define the entropy (and the absolute temperature) in strict analogy with rational thermodynamics by means of the equation dQ = TdS. If another definition is preferred, then this equation must be deduced from it. It has, therefore, seemed worth while to reopen the discussion by examining ab initio a quite general form of statistical mechanics of which the classical form and instein’s and Fermi-Dirac’s are special cases. This is rendered possible by using the powerful method of complex integration already applied to the classical form. The sequence of the argument is then to take the general form, which covers a very large range of ways of assigning possibilities and counting complexions, and construct on that basis exact integral expressions for the number of complexions possible to the assembly and for the average number of systems of the assembly in their various quantum states. We then derive from these the average energies and external reactions and so the form of dQ, deduce from dQ the existence of S and so define S and T. This can be done in the general form for assemblies of ideal systems just as general as can be handled in the classical way—ideal gases of molecules of any structure and crystals and radiation. Such assemblies are in all cases thermodynamical systems.