The momentum of a particle is interpreted as a gauge potential that defines the phase factors and gauge field in terms of the properties of the space–time manifold. Equating the field and the phase factors with the corresponding electromagnetic quantities results in the Lorentz and the Klein–Gordon equation respectively.
Formulations of quantum mechanics incorporating the Weyl gauge transformations are studied in this article and developed further. In the process, impact of the method of observation on its outcome is interpreted in terms of the assigned gauges by incorporating properties of the corresponding experimental arrangement in defining them. Further, the assigned gauge is explicitly incorporated in the Feynman path integral formulation of quantum mechanics. The resulting wavefunction, which is not uniquely defined, represents a gauge equivalence class. The representative wavefunction is still obtained by the original path integral method. Methods to obtain the pertinent information about the assigned gauges supplementing the representative wavefunction are discussed. The probability density is shown to be a uniquely defined gauge invariant quantity but at the expense of some information describing the observable effects contained in gauge factors. In the standard quantum mechanics, a wavefunction is assumed to be defined within a phase factor while the probability density is phase-independent, paralleling these results. Also, the path integral method is used to deduce the Klein-Gordon equation for the representative wavefunction in the Riemannian spaces in a more streamlined manner than the previous derivations.
The article contains a review and new results of some mathematical models relevant to the interpretation of quantum mechanics and emulating well-known quantum gauge theories, such as scalar electrodynamics (Klein–Gordon–Maxwell electrodynamics), spinor electrodynamics (Dirac–Maxwell electrodynamics), etc. In these models, evolution is typically described by modified Maxwell equations. In the case of scalar electrodynamics, the scalar complex wave function can be made real by a gauge transformation, the wave function can be algebraically eliminated from the equations of scalar electrodynamics, and the resulting modified Maxwell equations describe the independent evolution of the electromagnetic field. Similar results were obtained for spinor electrodynamics. Three out of four components of the Dirac spinor can be algebraically eliminated from the Dirac equation, and the remaining component can be made real by a gauge transformation. A similar result was obtained for the Dirac equation in the Yang–Mills field. As quantum gauge theories play a central role in modern physics, the approach of this article may be sufficiently general. One-particle wave functions can be modeled as plasma-like collections of a large number of particles and antiparticles. This seems to enable the simulation of quantum phase-space distribution functions, such as the Wigner distribution function, which are not necessarily non-negative.
A previous one-dimensional derivation of Schrödinger's equation from statistical assumptions is generalized to three spatial dimensions, gauge fields, and spin. 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. 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. The classical limit ℏ→0 of Schrödinger's equation and closely related questions of interpretation of the quantum mechanical formalism are discussed.
We consider a quantum particle as a wave packet in the coordinate space. When the conjugate wave packet in the momentum space is considered, we find that the group velocities of these two wave packets, which describe the particle dynamics, are in agreement with the Hamilton equations only if in the time dependent phases one considers the Lagrangian instead of the Hamiltonian which leads to the conventional Schrodinger equation. We define a relativistic quantum principle asserting that a quantum particle has a finite frequency spectrum, with a cutoff propagation velocity c as a universal constant not depending on the coordinate system, and that any time dependent phase variation is the same in any system of coordinates. From the time dependent phase invariance, the relativistic kinematics is obtained. We consider two types of possible interactions: 1) An interaction with an external field, by a modification of the time dependent phase differential with the terms proportional to the differentials of the space-time coordinates multiplied with the components of this field four-potential, and 2) an interaction by a deformation of the space-time coordinates, due to a gravitational field. From the invariance of the time dependent phase with field components, we obtain a mechanical force of the form of Lorentz’s force, and three Maxwell equations: The Gauss-Maxwell equations for the electric and magnetic fluxes, and the Faraday-Maxwell equation for the electromagnetic induction. When the fourth equation, Ampere-Maxwell, is considered, the interaction field takes the form of the electromagnetic field. For a low propagation velocity of the particle waves, we get a packet of waves with the time dependent phases proportional to the relativistic Hamiltonian, as in Dirac’s famous theory of spin, and a slowly-varying amplitude with a phase proportional to the momentum and this velocity. In the framework of our theory, the spin is obtained as an all quantum effect, without any additional assumption to the quantum theory. When a space-time deformation is considered in the time dependent phase of a quantum particle, from the group velocity we get the particle dynamics according to the general theory of relativity. In this way, the relativistic dynamics, the electromagnetic field, and the spin of a quantum particle are obtained only from the invariance of the time dependent phases of the particle wave functions.
The Schroedinger- and Klein-Gordon equations are directly derived from classical Lagrangians. The only inputs are given by the discreteness of energy (E=hbar.w) and momentum (p=hbar.k), respectively, as well as the assumed existence of a space-pervading field of "zero-point energy" (E_0=hbar.w/2 per spatial dimension) associated to each particle of energy E. The latter leads to an additional kinetic energy term in the classical Lagrangian, which alone suffices to pass from classical to quantum mechanics. Moreover, Heisenberg's uncertainty relations are also derived within this framework, i.e., without referring to quantum mechanical or other complex-numbered functions.