A possible generalization of quantum mechanics is examined by showing that the motion in phase space of a classical Brownian particle may be described by a complex probability amplitude depending on the phase-space coordinates and the time, and obeying a Schrödinger-like equation. However formal this result may seem, the usual dynamical operators may be defined whose physical meaning stems directly from the theory. An outstanding feature of the formalism is that ordinary quantum mechanics in configuration space may be recovered in a limiting process whereby the velocity variable, defined now through a statistical distribution, is eliminated. Therefore, it plays the role of a hidden variable. This result supports recent reinterpretations of von Neumann's theorem on the nonexistence of such variables in quantum mechanics and serves as a counterexample of the usual interpretation of his theorem.
A possible generalization of quantum mechanics is examined by showing that the motion in phase space of a classical Brownian particle may be described by a complex probability amplitude depending on the phase-space coordinates and the time, and obeying a Schrödinger-like equation. However formal this result may seem, the usual dynamical operators may be defined whose physical meaning stems directly from the theory. An outstanding feature of the formalism is that ordinary quantum mechanics in configuration space may be recovered in a limiting process whereby the velocity variable, defined now through a statistical distribution, is eliminated. Therefore, it plays the role of a hidden variable. This result supports recent reinterpretations of von Neumann's theorem on the nonexistence of such variables in quantum mechanics and serves as a counterexample of the usual interpretation of his theorem.
A wave dynamics of fields φ(p, q; t) ∈ L2(Γ) over the phase space Γ(p, q) of a classical system 𝒮 is derived from the Liouville theorem. We define the energy contained in a given field φ(p, q; t). We show that for a special class of fields, selected on physical grounds, the energy spectrum is given by a time-independent Schrödinger equation. This allows us to associate with 𝒮 an ordinary quantum system Q such that the values of the quantized energy coincide for the fields in the phase space of 𝒮 and for Q. Then we make use of Wiener's stochastic integral based on the theory of Brownian motion to derive probabilities which are the same as those one would obtain through Born's statistical postulate of quantum theory. From this it follows that we can regard normalized fields φ(p, q; t) as ``probability amplitudes'' leading to a probability density function ρ(p, q; t) = φφ* in the sense of Gibbs' statistical mechanics. Our work therefore appears as a bridge between a statistical theory (in the sense of Gibbs) of a mechanical system 𝒮 and the usual quantum theory of the related quantum system Q.
Since the early twentieth century, quantum mechanics has sought an interpretation that offers a consistent worldview. In the course of that, many proposals were advanced, but all of them introduce, at some point, interpretation elements (semantics) that find no correlate in the formalism (syntactics). This distance from semantics and syntactics is one of the major reasons for finding so abstruse and diverse interpretations of the formalism. To overcome this issue, we propose an alternative stochastic interpretation, based exclusively on the formal structure of the Schrödinger equation, without resorting to external assumptions such as the collapse of the wave function or the role of the observer. We present four (mathematically equivalent) mathematical derivations of the Schrödinger equation based on four constructs: characteristic function, Boltzmann entropy, Central Limit Theorem (CLT), and Langevin equation. All of them resort to axioms already interpreted and offer complementary perspectives to the quantum formalism. The results show the possibility of deriving the Schrödinger equation from well-defined probabilistic principles and that the wave function represents a probability amplitude in the configuration space, with dispersions linked to the CLT. It is concluded that quantum mechanics has a stochastic support, originating from the separation between particle and field subsystems, allowing an objective description of quantum behavior as a mean-field theory, analogous, but not equal, to Brownian motion, without the need for arbitrary ontological entities.
In Feynman's space-time approach to nonrelativistic quantum mechanics, the wave function may be considered to be the sum of path integrals over Brownian-motion trajectories. This formalism is entirely equivalent to the Schr\"odinger-equation treatment with its intrinsic indeterminacy. Pursuing the analogy with Brownian motion further, one may introduce a hidden variable corresponding to particle velocity in order to represent the wave function as a sum of path integrals taken over phase-space trajectories. By means of a hidden parameter corresponding to the time scale of fictitious interactions of the particle with the vacuum, one can define generalized propagators which over very short times produce wave functions which are localizable in phase space and hence are deterministic. For long times the conventional Feynman formalism is recovered. This short-time causality does not violate the von Neumann injunction against hidden variables since the new velocity variable turns out to be non-Hermitian over the long time scales normally considered. In contrast to the models proposed by Bohm and others, the present Brownian model is linear and preserves the usual statistical interpretation of the wave function for sufficiently long times.
It is shown that the motion of a Brownian particle in the Smoluchowski approximation may be described by a Schrödinger-like equation defining a complex probability amplitude whose norm is the same as the stochastic probability density. Furthermore, the quantum dynamical operators have a physical meaning which arises in a natural way, from the stochastic nature of the process. These operators satisfy the usual commutation relations and thus the uncertainty principle. Here the constant ℏ is replaced by a parameter depending on the characteristics of the system. In particular, the potential-energy operator for a Brownian particle subject to no external forces can be interpreted as a Rayleigh dissipative function.
A quantum operator is a classical physical variable except that it assumes values in a probability distribution, i.e., a random variable, solved by the Schrödinger equation in the form of a wavefunction. To date, the logical foundation of this construct remains an open question. This paper casts the basic components of quantum mechanics in the framework of general statistics. Our starting point is to define the domain of the wavefunction to be the complex unit circle, thus faithfully observing the periodicity of a wave. We seek to crystallize the meanings of the fundamental elements of quantum mechanics, which often are lost in its formalism, by certain common random variables in ordinary applications, such as random walks, inventory cycles, and human healthy temperatures, all defined on the sample space of a unit circle.
Abstract Using the simplest but fundamental example, the problem of the infinite potential well, this paper makes an ideological attempt (supported by rigorous mathematical proofs) to approach the issue of ≪understanding≫ the mechanism of quantum mechanics processes, despite the well-known examples of the EPR paradox type. The new exact solution of the Schrödinger equation is analyzed from the perspective of quantum mechanics in the phase space. It is the phase space, which has been extensively used recently in quantum computing, quantum informatics and communications, that is the bridge towards classical physics, where understanding of physical reality is still possible. In this paper, an interpretation of time-dependent processes of energy redistribution in a quantum system, probability waves, the temperature and entropy of a quantum system, and the transition to a time-independent ≪frozen state≫ is obtained, which is understandable from the point of view of classical physics. The material of the paper clearly illustrates the solution of the problem from the standpoint of continuum mechanics, statistical physics and, of course, quantum mechanics in the phase space.