In this paper the quantised version of Newton Second Law is derived assuming merely the existence of de Broglie matter-waves and their basic properties. At the same time we keep an eye towards interpretations of quantum mechanics and will realise that the two most different interpretations (Copenhagen interpretation and the de Broglie-Bohm theory) owe their difference to two fundamentally different approaches to `Harmonisation'. In this regard we shall see that the guiding equation of the de Broglie-Bohm theory currently found in literature is not the most complete equation possible; as a result we answer one of the important questions in interpreting quantum mechanics, namely that `when does the concept of classical path (trajectory) makes sense in quantum mechanics?' Moreover, in light of special-relativistic considerations we shall easily see that in the Number-Division approach, i.e. that of de Broglie-Bohm, the wave operator no longer appears, making it in turn impossible the application of Clifford algebras (Dirac's `square root' of the wave operator).
In this paper the quantised version of Newton Second Law is derived assuming merely the existence of de Broglie matter-waves and their basic properties. At the same time we keep an eye towards interpretations of quantum mechanics and will realise that the two most different interpretations (Copenhagen interpretation and the de Broglie-Bohm theory) owe their difference to two fundamentally different approaches to Harmonisation'. In this regard we shall see that the guiding equation of the de Broglie-Bohm theory currently found in literature is not the most complete equation possible; as a result we answer one of the important questions in interpreting quantum mechanics, namely that when does the concept of classical path (trajectory) makes sense in quantum mechanics?' Moreover, in light of special-relativistic considerations we shall easily see that in the Number-Division approach, i.e. that of de Broglie-Bohm, the wave operator no longer appears, making it in turn impossible the application of Clifford algebras (Dirac's `square root' of the wave operator).
The Copenhagen interpretation has been the subject of much criticism, notably by De Broglie and Einstein, because it contradicts the principles of causality and realism. The aim of this essay is to study the wave mechanics as an alternative to traditional quantum mechanics, in the continuity of the ideas of Louis de Broglie: the pilot wave theory of De Broglie (where each particle is associated with a wave which guides it), De Broglie-Bohm theory, stochastic electrodynamics (where the stochastic character of particles is caused by the energy field of the fluctuating vacuum), and the analogies between quantum mechanics and hydrodynamics.
The dominance of the Copenhagen interpretation is the result of a historical accident (Cushing, 1994). At the Solvay conference in 1927, Louis de Broglie put forward the deterministic pilot wave theory, described later. Never slow to criticize, Pauli jumped up and demolished de Broglie’s proposal, and de Broglie was so discouraged by this that he did not develop his interpretation any further. The Copenhagen interpretation was then developed by Bohr, Heisenberg, Pauli and many others, as described in the previous chapter. It was strongly supported by von Neumann’s proof of the impossibility of hidden variables. Years later, in 1952, Bohm published a deterministic hidden variable theory, showing that there must be something wrong with von Neumann’s proof. The error was found by John Bell in 1966, as described in the last chapter, and he also showed how Pauli’s objections to de Broglie’s original idea can be answered. If this had been done at the conference in 1927, quantum mechanics could have been interpreted deterministically from the beginning. The essential mistake in the Copenhagen interpretation is to treat it as a complete account of the behaviour of each individual system. It is frequently claimed that it enables us to calculate, at least in principle, everything that can be measured. Thus Hooft (1997, p. 11) said that ‘The laws of quantum mechanics have been formulated very accurately. We know exactly how to compute anything we would like to know.’ Also Peierls (1997, p. 25) has said that quantum mechanics ‘had become a complete and consistent scheme capable of giving a unique answer to any questions relating to actual or possible observations’. Even if this were true, it would not imply that it is the final complete theory, for it is always possible that some new phenomenon might be found that cannot be calculated quantum-mechanically. However, it is not true: there are many phenomena such as the time of decay of a radioactive nucleus, or the direction a particle is scattered by a nucleus, that cannot be calculated, even in principle. Quantum mechanics is therefore an incomplete theory. We can only calculate the statistical properties of these systems, such as the half-life of a radioactive decay or the differential scattering cross-section that gives the probabilities that a particle is scattered through various angles. All measurements of quantum systems are of this statistical character. It might be thought that the possibility of making measurements on a single electron provides an exception to this. However, even in such cases the electron is continually bathed in a fluctuating background radiation from nearby atoms. Since this is variable, that electron is a member of an ensemble of electrons subject to different fluctuations. All these examples clearly demonstrate the statistical character of quantum mechanics. ‘I am rather firmly convinced’, Einstein (in Schilpp, 1949, pp. 666, 671) remarked, ‘that the essentially statistical character of contemporary quantum theory is solely to be ascribed to fact that this theory operates with an incomplete description of physical systems’. As a result, ‘the c-function is to be understood as the description not of a single system but of an ensemble of systems’. So, ‘if the statistical quantum theory does not pretend to describe the individual system completely, it appears unavoidable to look elsewhere for a complete description of the individual systems’. Thus ‘the difficulties of theoretical interpretation disappear, if one views the quantum-mechanical description as a description of an ensemble of systems’. If this is achieved, ‘the statistical theory would, within the framework of future physics, take an approximately analogous position to statistical mechanics within the framework of classical mechanics’. ‘Thus, essentially, nothing has changed since Galileo or Newton or Faraday concerning the status of the ‘‘observer’’ or our ‘‘consciousness’’ or of our ‘‘information’’ in physics’ (Popper, 1982, p. 46). Once this is accepted, the quantum paradoxes that plagued the Copenhagen interpretation are easily resolved, as described below. In any textbook of quantum mechanics problems such as the calculation of the energy levels of the hydrogen atom are solved as if that hydrogen atom is alone in the universe. As Feynman (1972) remarked, ‘when we solve a quantum-mechanical problem, what we really do is to divide the universe into two parts – the system in which we are interested and the rest of the universe. We then usually act as if the system in which we are interested comprised the whole universe.’ In fact, however, every hydrogen atom on which measurements are made is surrounded by other atoms and exposed to their radiations. Quantum mechanics somehow takes this into account and gives the average behaviour of an ensemble of hydrogen atoms. A more detailed theory takes these influences into account. One attempt to do this is stochastic electrodynamics, described in a later section.
Abstract The pilot-wave theory of de Broglie and Bohm has a special place in the history of contemporary physics, being it the very first alternative formulation of quantum mechanics. As is well-known, such a framework established itself as a leading interpretation of the quantum formalism in virtue of the solutions provided to the major technical and conceptual challenges affecting the orthodox view. The de Broglie-Bohm theory in fact not only solves the famous measurement problem, one of the most cogent issues faced by standard quantum mechanics, but also it clarifies the formal structure of the latter theory as a consequence of a consistent set of principles and an precise, unambiguous ontology. This volume aims to provide the reader with a discussion of the pilot-wave perspective which is as informative, comprehensive and accessible as possible, while at the same time clarifying confusions and misunderstandings that are unfortunately still common in literature despite the long history of this theoretical framework. The book features chapters about the various perspectives on the pilot-wave theory, its extensions to relativity and quantum field theory, and its experimental applications to various branches of physics, as for instance quantum electrodynamics, quantum chemistry, and quantum engineering. Moreover, the volume includes essays on the history and philosophy of de Broglie-Bohm theory in order to delineate its developments and the vicissitudes of its pioneers, as well as to understand the scientific image of the universe it provides.
The non-relativistic quantum theory has been interpreted causally by de Broglie, David Bohm, and others, where a quantum entity is viewed as a particle with a definite position and momentum. This interpretation contrasts with the Copenhagen orthodox interpretation, which conveys uncertainty through the commutator relationship between position and momentum operators. This is further exacerbated by the de Broglie-Bohm interpretation, which uses no operators corresponding to these observables. We reconcile these opposing viewpoints by introducing mathematical nonlinear transforms in Bohmian mechanics for the momentum observable. While these nonlinear operator-like transforms cannot be easily represented as matrices in the Hilbert space, we show that they can be utilized in the de Broglie-Bohm interpretations of quantum theory.
The famous 1927 Solvay Conference was considered a turning point in the world of Physics. The scientific realists like Albert Einstein had lost and the instrumentalists like Niels Bohr had won the fundamental conflict. Since then Physics has followed the path of the instrumentalists in which Quantum Physics has been determined by the concept of Elementary Particles and Probability Waves. Until May 2013, when for the first time a photo had been made of the Probability Waves Inside the Hydrogen Atom . It should be impossible to make a photo of a non-existing complex probability wave with mass zero But the fact could not be denied anymore that scientists had succeeded to make the “complex” and the “non-existing” quantum mechanical “Probability Wave” visible. New discoveries like Photonic Molecules , Photon-Photon Interaction require a new interpretation of the Copenhagen Interpretation . Since the Copenhagen Interpretation there is still no clarity about the physical interpretation of the Quantum Mechanical “Probability Wave Function”This Manuscript describes a third unknown interpretation of the Quantum Mechanical “Probability Wave Function”. A fundamental physical interpretation that will change the generally accepted Copenhagen Interpretation. This Manuscript will answer the fundamental question: Does an alternative theory exist in which the existence of this particular photo, of the Quantum Mechanical Probability Wave within the Hydrogen Atom, could be explained. And that the famous photo of the Hydrogen Atom can be explained in a logical and a simple way. To find the answer, we have to go back in time. Back 300 years in time to the moment when Isaac Newton discovered the beauty and one of the many secrets of the light. The moment when science walked away from light. And we return to the fundamental question: “Is it possible to build Matter out of Light (confined electromagnetic waves)?” To answer this question if it is possible to build Matter out of Light, we first have to answer the question how we have come to this world of Probability Waves and Elementary Particles and Quantum Physics.Louis de Broglie described in 1924 in his PhD thesis the wave properties of matter. Erwin Schrödinger published in 1926 the well-known Schrödinger wave equation with the characteristic spherical and elliptical wave solutions. To describe these material waves, the immediately and first explanation was: “There is only one possibility. These are “Electromagnetic Waves”. De Broglie Waves are ” Light Waves”. Because these were the only waves, known in the world of Physics, that could travel through vacuum. But there was a fundamental problem. These material waves, discovered by Louis de Broglie and mathematically described by Erwin Schrödinger could never be solutions of the well-known 4 linear equations of James Clerk Maxwell. The material waves were spherical and elliptical solutions of confinement and that was impossible for the solutions of the linear Maxwell Equations. According to the linear Maxwell Equations, superposition is possible but Electromagnetic Interaction and Electromagnetic Confinement can only be described by a set of non-linear differential equations. To solve this fundamental problem a new set of 3 non-linear Electromagnetic Equations (Equation 5 in this manuscript) has been developed which replaces the well-known 4 linear Maxwell Equations and the possible solutions of Equation (5) are also Spherical and Elliptical solutions of confinement. Table 1 in this manuscript presents a number of Electromagnetic Spherical Confinements as solutions of Equation 5a .A second problem was that the model of the atom of Bohr could not hold. How could an electron be everywhere at the same time in a kind of a spherical shell surrounding the nucleus. And be a particle at the same time. And Bohr found a compromise to declare the “De Broglie” waves to be the probability waves. Two problems were solved. Bohr’s planetary model could hold. And there was a name for the unknown material waves, discovered by Louis de Broglie and mathematically described by Erwin Schrödinger. The theory of “Probability Waves, Elementary Particles and Quantum Physics” had been created. To find a possibility, to create matter out of light we have to go back to the Equations of James Clerk Maxwell. The only possibility to declare the probability waves, discovered by Louis de Broglie, to be electromagnetic waves, to be light, and to be the building element of our universe, is to find evidence that he Maxwell Equations are not complete and that it is possible to confine light (electromagnetic waves) in spherical and elliptical shapes.
The famous 1927 Solvay Conference was considered a turning point in the world of Physics. The scientific realists like Albert Einstein had lost and the instrumentalists like Niels Bohr had won the fundamental conflict. Since then Physics has followed the path of the instrumentalists in which Quantum Physics has been determined by the concept of Elementary Particles and Probability Waves. Until May 2013, when for the first time a photo had been made of the Probability Waves Inside the Hydrogen Atom . It should be impossible to make a photo of a non-existing complex probability wave with mass zero But the fact could not be denied anymore that scientists had succeeded to make the “complex” and the “non-existing” quantum mechanical “Probability Wave” visible. New discoveries like Photonic Molecules , Photon-Photon Interaction require a new interpretation of the Copenhagen Interpretation . Since the Copenhagen Interpretation there is still no clarity about the physical interpretation of the Quantum Mechanical “Probability Wave Function”This Manuscript describes a third unknown interpretation of the Quantum Mechanical “Probability Wave Function”. A fundamental physical interpretation that will change the generally accepted Copenhagen Interpretation. This Manuscript will answer the fundamental question: Does an alternative theory exist in which the existence of this particular photo, of the Quantum Mechanical Probability Wave within the Hydrogen Atom, could be explained. And that the famous photo of the Hydrogen Atom can be explained in a logical and a simple way. To find the answer, we have to go back in time. Back 300 years in time to the moment when Isaac Newton discovered the beauty and one of the many secrets of the light. The moment when science walked away from light. And we return to the fundamental question: “Is it possible to build Matter out of Light (confined electromagnetic waves)?” To answer this question if it is possible to build Matter out of Light, we first have to answer the question how we have come to this world of Probability Waves and Elementary Particles and Quantum Physics.Louis de Broglie described in 1924 in his PhD thesis the wave properties of matter. Erwin Schrödinger published in 1926 the well-known Schrödinger wave equation with the characteristic spherical and elliptical wave solutions. To describe these material waves, the immediately and first explanation was: “There is only one possibility. These are “Electromagnetic Waves”. De Broglie Waves are ” Light Waves”. Because these were the only waves, known in the world of Physics, that could travel through vacuum. But there was a fundamental problem. These material waves, discovered by Louis de Broglie and mathematically described by Erwin Schrödinger could never be solutions of the well-known 4 linear equations of James Clerk Maxwell. The material waves were spherical and elliptical solutions of confinement and that was impossible for the solutions of the linear Maxwell Equations. According to the linear Maxwell Equations, superposition is possible but Electromagnetic Interaction and Electromagnetic Confinement can only be described by a set of non-linear differential equations. To solve this fundamental problem a new set of 3 non-linear Electromagnetic Equations (Equation 5 in this manuscript) has been developed which replaces the well-known 4 linear Maxwell Equations and the possible solutions of Equation (5) are also Spherical and Elliptical solutions of confinement. Table 1 in this manuscript presents a number of Electromagnetic Spherical Confinements as solutions of Equation 5a .A second problem was that the model of the atom of Bohr could not hold. How could an electron be everywhere at the same time in a kind of a spherical shell surrounding the nucleus. And be a particle at the same time. And Bohr found a compromise to declare the “De Broglie” waves to be the probability waves. Two problems were solved. Bohr’s planetary model could hold. And there was a name for the unknown material waves, discovered by Louis de Broglie and mathematically described by Erwin Schrödinger. The theory of “Probability Waves, Elementary Particles and Quantum Physics” had been created. To find a possibility, to create matter out of light we have to go back to the Equations of James Clerk Maxwell. The only possibility to declare the probability waves, discovered by Louis de Broglie, to be electromagnetic waves, to be light, and to be the building element of our universe, is to find evidence that he Maxwell Equations are not complete and that it is possible to confine light (electromagnetic waves) in spherical and elliptical shapes.