Classical statistics in functional formalism

P. Quaas, K. Voß, P. Ziesche

CHRISTOF WETTERICH

Yuri A. Rylov

It is shown that the wave function describes the state of the statistical ensemble E[S] of individual particles, or the statistical average particle . This result follows from the fact that in the classical limit h=0 the Schroedinger equation turns to the dynamic equations for the statistical ensemble of classical particles. The statement that the wave function describes the state of an individual particle is incompatible with the quantum mechanics formalism. It is shown that the statistical interpretation of quantum mechanics is a corollary of the fact, that the QM formalism is the technique of the statistical ensemble description, restricted by constraints of the dynamic equation linearity.

K. Bruce Winterbon

C. Wetterich

Abstract Quantum particles and classical particles are described in a common setting of classical statistical physics. The property of a particle being “classical” or “quantum” ceases to be a basic conceptual difference. The dynamics differs, however, between quantum and classical particles. We describe position, motion and correlations of a quantum particle in terms of observables in a classical statistical ensemble. On the other side, we also construct explicitly the quantum formalism with wave function and Hamiltonian for classical particles. For a suitable time evolution of the classical probabilities and a suitable choice of observables all features of a quantum particle in a potential can be derived from classical statistics, including interference and tunneling. Besides conceptual advances, the treatment of classical and quantum particles in a common formalism could lead to interesting cross‐fertilization between classical statistics and quantum physics.

Klavs Hansen