A new mechanics is developed, extending analytical mechanics by drawing parallels with statistical mechanics. The approach developed replaces the concept of a many-particle system in favor of a “many-observer system” with respect to a single particle in an isotropic and homogeneous universe. Motion is described using the discontinuous quantum motion hypothesis: Space and time changes occur in an alternate and independent fashion. A configuration space is constructed consisting of relative displacements between the particle in question and each “observer.” The results include a description of mass and momentum (analogous to state functions), and the derivation of Einstein's relativistic energy equation (analogous to an equation of state for an individual particle based on its displacement relationships with respect to all other observers). Assumptions of three spatial dimensions and rectilinear motion will not be a priori but shown as emergent. If rectilinear motion is emergent, then I suggest that the arrow of time could be based at a microscopic level. Parallels with Bohmian mechanics are discussed.
A new mechanics is developed, extending analytical mechanics by drawing parallels with statistical mechanics. The approach developed replaces the concept of a many-particle system in favor of a “many-observer system” with respect to a single particle in an isotropic and homogeneous universe. Motion is described using the discontinuous quantum motion hypothesis: Space and time changes occur in an alternate and independent fashion. A configuration space is constructed consisting of relative displacements between the particle in question and each “observer.” The results include a description of mass and momentum (analogous to state functions), and the derivation of Einstein's relativistic energy equation (analogous to an equation of state for an individual particle based on its displacement relationships with respect to all other observers). Assumptions of three spatial dimensions and rectilinear motion will not be a priori but shown as emergent. If rectilinear motion is emergent, then I suggest that the arrow of time could be based at a microscopic level. Parallels with Bohmian mechanics are discussed.
When the solution of the time independent Schrödinger equation is a real function, the velocity of the associated quantum particle is vanishing in Bohmian Mechanics. We can obtain a moving particle if we consider that its velocity can be related not to the phase of the wave function but to its amplitude. By using the rules of standard quantum mechanics, we have constructed a model generalizing the momentum operator and modifying the corresponding Schrödinger equation. We obtain a new nonlinear equation of the form studied by Ermakov and Pinney and we apply the model to the cases of the particle in a box and of a bouncing ball. The new formula of quantum velocity and the corresponding motion of quantum particles have an immediate correspondence with the behavior of the bodies in classical mechanics.
We perform an experimental test where we directly observe light-induced electron transitions with a macroscopic spatial discontinuity. The effect is related to the fundamental indivisibility of macroscopic orbit-like quantum states reminiscent of so-called extended states in the integer quantum Hall system. The test has become realizable due to the discovering of a quantum phase with spontaneous pervasive quantum ordering reminiscent of that of a single atom. The observed transitions may be regarded as a peculiar quantum dynamics beyond relativity, which implies that the current relativistic model of universe should be replaced by a deeper quantum model. It is the Bohm’s model of undivided universe which now should involve a deeper-than-classical concept of absolute simultaneity and a deeper-than-relativistic concept of space and time. Ultimately, our test thus establishes a new hierarchy of fundamental physical theories where the de Broglie-Bohm realistic quantum theory is the deepest theory which does not contradict either classical physics or relativity but rather is beyond both. This is because the fact that quantum theory is dealing with a deeper reality where physical objects are not self-sufficient entities and therefore they can transit discontinuously within an overall quantum system determined by their wavefunctions.
An operational approach to quantum mechanics has been developed in the past decades in our group in Brussels. A similar approach is taken in this work, making use of the extra operational depth offered by this approach, to show that the construction of spacetime is specific to each observer. What is usually referred to as the block universe then emerges by noting that parts of the past and future are also contained in the present, but without the limitations that a four-dimensional block universe usually implies, of a reality in which change would be impossible. In our operational approach, reality remains dynamic, with free choice playing a central role in its conceptualization. We also show that, when operationally analyzed, the theory implies that objects move not only in space, but also and especially in time, and more generally in spacetime, with their rest mass being a measure of their kinetic time energy. We therefore claim that Einstein’s relativity revolution has not been fully realized, since most physicists are not ready to accept these consequences of the theory although the formula’s showing them, when operationally analyzed, are in every relativity textbook. In particular, when relativistic motion is revisited as a genuine four-dimensional motion, it becomes possible to reinterpret the parameter c associated with the coordinate speed of light, which becomes the magnitude of the four-velocity of all material entities. We observe that this four-dimensional motion in Minkowski space can also be better understood if placed in the broader perspective of quantum mechanics, provided that non-locality is interpreted as non-spatiality, thus indicating the existence of an underlying non-spatial reality, the nature of which could be conceptual, consistent with the conceptuality interpretation of quantum mechanics. This hypothesis is reinforced by noting that when observers, or experiencers, as they will be referred to in this article, are described by acknowledging their cognitive nature of entities moving in a semantic space, Minkowski metric emerges in a natural way.
Development of the contemporary theory of physical phenomena in the microcosm is considered to be a result of development of Einstein's ideas on a possibility of the event space modification and on a possibility of stochastic (Brownian) motion of free particles. One considers the space-time modification, based on a new conception of geometry. In the framework of this conception any geometry is obtained as a result of the proper Euclidean geometry deformation. In the framework of this conception it is possible such a space-time geometry, where the free particle motion appears to be stochastic, although the geometry in itself remains to be deterministic. The stochasticity intensity depends on the particle mass. It is small for particle of a large mass, and it is essential for the particle of a small mass. The space-time geometry may be chosen in such a way, that the statistical description of random world lines of particles be equivalent to the quantum description (the Schrödinger equation). At such a description the quantum principles are not used. They can be obtained as a corollaries of the statistical description of nonrelativistic stochastic particles. The nonrelativistic quantum principles may not be used for description of relativistic phenomena.
This thesis develops a detailed account of the emergence of for all practical purposes continuous, quasi-classical world histories from the discontinuous, stochastic micro dynamics of Minimal Bohmian Mechanics (MBM). MBM is a non-relativistic quantum theory. It results from excising the guiding equation from standard Bohmian Mechanics (BM) and reinterpreting the quantum equilibrium hypothesis as a stochastic guidance law for the random actualization of configurations of Bohmian particles. On MBM, there are no continuous trajectories linking up individual configurations. Instead, individual configurations are actualized independently of each other, carving out the decoherence-induced branching structure of the universal wave function. Yet, by contrast to the Everett interpretation, branches of the universal wave function are not actualized in parallel, i.e. all at the same time. Rather, world branches, on MBM, are actualized sequentially. For an introduction to MBM, the transition from BM to MBM is described, and their empirical equivalence is established. I present the conditions under which MBM can be classified as a primitive ontology (PO) theory, regarded as crucial for the acceptance of a theory as Bohmian by many proponents of BM. While rendering MBM compatible with the PO approach, it must not fall prey to the problem of communication, arising from the two-space reading of BM. The issue of temporal solipsism, identified by Bell as a serious problem for his “Everett (?) theory” – the historic predecessor of MBM – is discussed. I argue that Barbour’s time capsule approach does not provide a satisfactory solution. In particular, his adopting a more than minimal psychophysical parallelism between brain processes and experience of macroscopic change is argued to be reasonable in light of our current best neuroscience, yet problematic for theories relying solely on time capsules, understood as highly structured, individual, internally static configurations. As a solution, I introduce worlds, and world histories, as key concepts in providing a link between MBM’s micro dynamics and macroscopic phenomena. Worlds, other than time capsules, are coarse-grained regions in phase- or configuration space, defined as sets of possible micro states satisfying a relation of sufficient similarity from a macroscopic perspective, with respect to a given micro state. Hence, worlds may overlap. I argue that worlds thus construed are a reasonable option for replacing the disjoint macro regions of phase space, resulting from the usual way of partitioning phase space in the standard framework of Boltzmannian statistical mechanics. This move solves the issue of discontinuous change of macro variables upon the micro state crossing the boundary between different macro regions. I adapt this move for MBM’s discontinuous micro dynamics in configuration space. Issues revolving around the microscopic-macroscopic distinction, particle identity, impenetrability and haecceity in light of the desideratum of particle number conservation, etc., are discussed. I provide a detailed explanation of how overlapping worlds in MBM form world histories, thereby linking up macroscopically distinct worlds. Thus, the problem of temporal solipsism is resolved in a way that is compatible with a more than minimal psychophysical parallelism.
We present a theory of discontinuous motion of particles in continuous space-time. We show that the simplest nonrelativistic evolution equation of such motion is just the Schrodinger equation in quantum mechanics. This strongly implies what quantum mechanics describes is discontinuous motion of particles. Considering the fact that space-time may be essentially discrete when considering gravity, we further present a theory of discontinuous motion of particles in discrete space-time. We show that its evolution will naturally result in the dynamical collapse process of the wave function, and this collapse will bring about the appearance of continuous motion of objects in the macroscopic world.