Can waves be treated as particles? There is still disagreement in the interpretation of the quantum theory.

Q. Niu, Ping Ao, D. J. Thouless

We calculate the overlap between two many-body wave functions for a superfluid film containing a vortex at shifted positions. Comparing the results to phenomenological theories, which treat vortices as point particles, we find that the results are consistent if the point-particle vortices are considered as under the action of the Magnus force and in weak interaction with sound waves of the superfluid. We are then able to resolve the disagreement concerning the effective mass of vortices, showing it is finite.

Howard Stein

Joseph Palazzo

In the interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, there were four major mistakes done at different levels: (1)A misinterpretation of Bell’s theorem in which the original intent did not include non-locality, but as a test to see whether or not a particle has a certain property that can be measured. (2)A misinterpretation of the disagreement between Einstein and Bohr. Einstein’s objection to the collapse of the wave function implied a spooky action at a distance, while Bohr insisted on the instantaneous collapse of the wave function which he mistook to be a real wave. (3)A misinterpretation that the wave function represents a real wave when in actuality it represents the possible states of a quantum system before a measurement. (4)When Bell’s theorem was violated by a quantum system, those violations were misinterpreted as evidence of an instantaneous collapse of the wave function and non-locality. We will argue: there is no collapse of the wave function. Bell’s theorem is not about non-locality. There is no spooky action at a distance. And Quantum Mechanics is about measuring quantities at the microscopic scales and in doing so, these quantities are altered. So what we get is partial knowledge. But in spite of that obstacle, we still get a theory of reality with considerable success.

John Maddox

Willis E. Lamb

It has been shown that Newtonian classical mechanics (NCM) suffers from several kinds of chaotic indeterminacies. That means, a large set of problems treated with NCM gives results which are in wild disagreement with observation. In the present paper, these shortcomings are repaired in a simple, obvious, and essentially unique manner. The NCM theory is thereby transformed into a new theory which is fully equivalent to the Heisenberg, Schrödinger, and Dirac nonrelativistic quantum mechanics, with the vital addition of Born’s probabilistic interpretation of the wave function built in from the start. I call this new theory “super classical quantum mechanics” (SCQM). Using Ehrenfest’s theorem of 1927, the classical limit of the new theory, SCQM, is seen to give exactly the results expected of the repaired Newtonian theory of classical mechanics.

Thomas Boyer‐Kassem