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Journal of Applied Mathematics and Physics

Primary Assumptions and Guidance Laws in Wave Mechanics

A. Orefice, Raffaele Giovanelli, Domenico Ditto

Published Jan 1, 2018• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In an article written by Louis de Broglie in 1959 (30 years after the Nobel prize rewarding his foundation of Wave Mechanics), the most challenging problem raised by the Bohr, Heisenberg and Born Standard Quantum Mechanics (SQM) was pointed out in the renunciation to describe “a permanent localization in space, and therefore a well-defined trajectory” for any moving particle. This challenge is taken up in the present paper, showing that de Broglie’s Primary Assumption p=hk, predicting the wave-particle duality, does also allow to obtain from the energy-dependent form of the Schrödinger and/or Klein-Gordon equations the Guidance Laws piloting particles along well-defined trajectories. The energy-independent equations, on the other hand, may only give rise—both in SQM and in the Bohmian approach—to probabilistic descriptions, overshadowing the role of de Broglie’s matter waves in physical space.

DOI
10.4236/jamp.2018.612218

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In an article written by Louis de Broglie in 1959 (30 years after the Nobel prize rewarding his foundation of Wave Mechanics), the most challenging problem raised by the Bohr, Heisenberg and Born Standard Quantum Mechanics (SQM) was pointed out in the renunciation to describe “a permanent localization in space, and therefore a well-defined trajectory” for any moving particle. This challenge is taken up in the present paper, showing that de Broglie’s Primary Assumption p=hk, predicting the wave-particle duality, does also allow to obtain from the energy-dependent form of the Schrödinger and/or Klein-Gordon equations the Guidance Laws piloting particles along well-defined trajectories. The energy-independent equations, on the other hand, may only give rise—both in SQM and in the Bohmian approach—to probabilistic descriptions, overshadowing the role of de Broglie’s matter waves in physical space.
Both classical and wave-mechanical monochromatic waves may be treated in terms of exact ray-trajectories (encoded in the structure itself of Helmholtz-like equations) whose mutual coupling is the one and only cause of any diffraction and interference process. In the case of Wave Mechanics, de Broglie’s merging of Maupertuis’s and Fermat’s principles (see Section 3) provides, without resorting to the probability-based guidance-laws and flow-lines of the Bohmian theory, the simple law addressing particles along the Helmholtz rays of the relevant matter waves. The purpose of the present research was to derive the exact Hamiltonian ray-trajectory systems concerning, respectively, classical electromagnetic waves, non-relativistic matter waves and relativistic matter waves. We faced then, as a typical example, the numerical solution of non-relativistic wave-mechanical equation systems in a number of numerical applications, showing that each particle turns out to “dances a wave-mechanical dance” around its classical trajectory, to which it reduces when the ray-coupling is neglected. Our approach reaches the double goal of a clear insight into the mechanism of wave-particle duality and of a reasonably simple computability. We finally compared our exact dynamical approach, running as close as possible to Classical Mechanics, with the hydrodynamic Bohmian theory, based on fluid-like “guidance laws”.
The time-independent Schroedinger and Klein-Gordon equations - as well as any other Helmholtz-like equation - were recently shown to be associated with exact sets of ray-trajectories (coupled by a "Wave Potential" function encoded in their structure itself) describing any kind of wave-like features, such as diffraction and interference. This property suggests to view Wave Mechanics as a direct, causal and realistic, extension of Classical Mechanics, based on exact trajectories and motion laws of point-like particles "piloted" by de Broglie's matter waves and avoiding the probabilistic content and the wave-packets both of the standard Copenhagen interpretation and of Bohm's theory.
Abstract: A previous paper by Arneberg [1] proposed a local, deterministic ontology in which all fundamental particles are point-like entities possessing an intrinsic oscillating dipole moment that radiates a real guiding wave. That paper presented the conceptual framework and a mathematical skeleton. The present paper develops the mathematical foundations in detail. It is shown that the two governing equations of the dipole-wave model — a sourced wave equation for the wave and a local guidance equation for the particle — reduce, in the non-relativistic limit, to the Schrödinger equation and the de Broglie-Bohm guidance equation, respectively. The reduction hinges on a single parameter: the dipole oscillation frequency ω₀ = mc²/ħ, which is precisely the Compton frequency identified by de Broglie in his internal clock hypothesis. The mass term in the wave equation cancels the fast oscillation, leaving the Schrödinger dynamics for the slowly varying envelope. The guidance equation, when the wave is expressed in polar form, yields the Bohmian velocity law. Together, these reductions demonstrate that the dipole-wave ontology reproduces the empirical content of standard non-relativistic quantum mechanics for a single massive particle while maintaining locality, determinism, and a clear separation between particle and wave.
Louis-Victor de Broglie secured his place in the history of quantum physics by proposing the existence of matter waves. Following the concept accepted early in the twentieth century that light waves could display properties characteristic of particles (photons), de Broglie suggested the complementary principle that particles could display properties characteristic of waves. Within a few years, this far-reaching proposal was experimentally verified. The well-known formula for the wavelength λ of the wave associated with a particle of momentum p, namely λ=h/p, does not appear in de Broglie’s original paper, which was published in this journal in 1924. What is derived from the starting assumption that the frequency of the wave is the rest energy of the particle divided by Planck’s constant h, is the wave's velocity, which turns out to be c2/v, where v is the particle’s velocity. This velocity, being superluminal, means that the wave cannot transport energy. De Broglie called it a phase wave and postulated a group of such waves having virtually, but not exactly, the same velocity and wavelength. The group velocity of such a large number of almost identical phase waves is then shown, very satisfactorily, to be equal to the velocity of the particle. The proposal by de Broglie inspired Schrödinger to develop the mathematical foundations of wave mechanics. Whereas in conventional quantum theory, phase waves are considered fictional, de Broglie considered them to have a certain physical reality, renaming them pilot or guiding waves – a concept developed later by Bohm in 1952.
A physically real wave associated with any moving particle and travelling in a surrounding material medium was introduced by Louis de Broglie in a series of short notes in 1923 and in a more complete form in his thesis defended in Paris on the 25th November 1924. This result, recognised by the Nobel Prize in 1929, gave rise to a major direction of "new physics" known today as "quantum mechanics". However, although such notions as "de Broglie wavelength" and "wave-particle duality" form the basis of the standard quantum theory, it actually only takes for granted (postulates) the formula for the particle wavelength and totally ignores the underlying causal, realistic and physically transparent picture of wave-particle dynamics outlined by Louis de Broglie in his thesis and further considerably developed in his later works, in the form of "double solution" and "hidden thermodynamics" theory. A price to pay for such rough deviation from the original de Broglian realism and consistency involves fundamental physics domination by purely abstract and mechanistically simplified schemes of formal symbols and rules that have led to a deep knowledge impasse justly described as "the end of science". However, a new, independent approach of "quantum field mechanics" (quant-ph/9902015, quant-ph/9902016, physics/0401164) created within the "universal science of complexity" (physics/9806002) provides many-sided confirmation and natural completion of de Broglie's "nonlinear wave mechanics", eliminating all its "difficult points" and reconstituting the causally complete, totally consistent and intrinsically unified picture of the real, complex micro-world dynamics directly extendible to all higher levels of unreduced world complexity.