Present experimental status of the Einstein-de Broglie theory of light

Helge Kastrup, Jeffry V. Mallow A

Louis de Broglie received the Nobel Prize for his Ph.D. It is an extreme statement but not as extreme as one might think. In his 1924 doctoral dissertation, he asserted that all matter had both wave and particle properties. His thesis stemmed from Einstein's recognition that light had particle properties. Until then it was assumed, and every experiment had shown, that light was strictly a wave. With the photoelectric effect explained by Einstein, light became an example of “wave-particle duality.” Before de Broglie, it was the only example. De Broglie proposed that all matter had both wave and particle properties. De Broglie found the relationship between the two: the particle momentum was inversely proportional to the wavelength. Experimental evidence subsequently confirmed his theory, hence the Prize.

M. A. M. El-Nadi

Jules Géhéniau

Seiya Abiko

Stanley Jeffers, Sisir Roy, Jean Pierre Vigier +1 more

Colin, Samuel, Thomas Durt, Ralph Willox

Since de Broglie's pilot wave theory was revived by David Bohm in the 1950's, the overwhelming majority of researchers involved in the field have focused on what is nowadays called de Broglie-Bohm dynamics and de Broglie's original double solution program was gradually forgotten. As a result, several of the key concepts in the theory are still rather vague and ill-understood. In the light of the progress achieved over the course of the 90 years that have passed since de Broglie's presentation of his ideas at the Solvay conference of 1927, we reconsider in the present paper the status of the double solution program. More than a somewhat dusty archaeological piece of history of science, we believe it should be considered as a legitimate attempt to reconcile quantum theory with realism.