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Interference, reduced action, and trajectories

Edward R. Floyd

Published Jan 1, 2006• 5 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

Instead of investigating the interference between two stationary, rectilinear wave functions in a trajectory representation by examining the trajectories of the two rectilinear wave functions individually, we examine a dichromatic wave function that is synthesized from the two interfering wave functions. The physics of interference is contained in the reduced action for the dichromatic wave function. As this reduced action is a generator of the motion for the dichromatic wave function, it determines the dichromatic wave function’s trajectory. The quantum effective mass renders insight into the behavior of the trajectory. The trajectory in turn renders insight into quantum nonlocality.

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Instead of investigating the interference between two stationary, rectilinear wave functions in a trajectory representation by examining the trajectories of the two rectilinear wave functions individually, we examine a dichromatic wave function that is synthesized from the two interfering wave functions. The physics of interference is contained in the reduced action for the dichromatic wave function. As this reduced action is a generator of the motion for the dichromatic wave function, it determines the dichromatic wave function’s trajectory. The quantum effective mass renders insight into the behavior of the trajectory. The trajectory in turn renders insight into quantum nonlocality.
Quantum trajectories are used to investigate the EPR-Bohr debate in a modern sense by examining entanglement and nonlocality. We synthesize a single "entanglement molecule" from the two scattered particles of the EPR experiment. We explicitly investigate the behavior of the entanglement molecule rather than the behaviors of the two scattered particles to gain insight into the EPR-Bohr debate. We develop the entanglement molecule's wave function in polar form and its reduced action, both of which manifest entanglement. We next apply Jacobi's theorem to the reduced action to generate the equation of quantum motion for the entanglement molecule to produce its quantum trajectory. The resultant quantum trajectory manifests entanglement and has retrograde segments interspersed between segments of forward motion. This alternating of forward and retrograde segments generates nonlocality and, within the entanglement molecule, action at a distance. Dissection of the equation of quantum motion for the entanglement molecule, while rendering the classical behavior of the two scattered particles, also reveals an emergent "entanglon" that maintains the entanglement between the scattered particles. The characteristics of the entanglon and its relationship to nonlocality are examined.
In the last few years the hydrodynamic formulation of quantum mechanics, equivalent to the Bohmian equations of motion, has been used to obtain numerical solutions of the Schrodinger equation. Problems, however, have been experienced near wave function nodes (or low probability regions). Here we attempt to compute wave functions and Bohmian trajectories for the interference of one particle or of two identical particles. It turns out that the large number of nodes (i.e. interference minima) makes the hydrodynamic equations impractical, whereas a more straightforward solution of the Schrodinger equation gives very good results.
]. We rise to the challenge with an alternative to the wave function-centered interpretations: instead of a quantum wave passing through both slits, we have a localized particle with nonlocal interactions with the other slit. Key to this explanation is dynamical nonlocality, which naturally appears in the Heisenberg picture as nonlocal equations of motion. This insight led us to develop an approach to quantum mechanics which relies on pre- and postselection, weak measurements, deterministic, and modular variables. We consider those properties of a single particle that are deterministic to be primal. The Heisenberg picture allows us to specify the most complete enumeration of such deterministic properties in contrast to the Schrödinger wave function, which remains an ensemble property. We exercise this approach by analyzing a version of the double-slit experiment augmented with postselection, showing that only it and not the wave function approach can be accommodated within a time-symmetric interpretation, where interference appears even when the particle is localized. Although the Heisenberg and Schrödinger pictures are equivalent formulations, nevertheless, the framework presented here has led to insights, intuitions, and experiments that were missed from the old perspective.
Interference is one of the most fundamental features which characterizes quantum systems. Here we provide an exhaustive analysis of the interfere dynamics associated with wave-packet superpositions from both the standard quantum-mechanical perspective and the Bohmian one. From this analysis, clear and insightful pictures of the physics involved in these kind of processes are obtained, which are of general validity (i.e., regardless of the type of wave packets considered) in the understanding of more complex cases where interference is crucial (e.g., scattering problems, slit diffraction, quantum control scenarios or, even, multipartite interactions). In particular, we show how problems involving wave-packet interference can be mapped onto problems of wave packets scattered off potential barriers.
Abstract On the basis of the V-function method, an optical-mechanical analogy is carried out; and further it receives a new continuation. In particular, the equality of the phase velocity of the wave and the velocity of the particle is shown. It is noted that according to its physical meaning the wave characterizes the properties of the action that manifests itself in the motion of the particle. The V-function method is based on the concept of a process-state and it consists of a local variational principle, a new formulation of the direct and inverse problem of dynamics. According to the V-function method, the trajectory motion of an object is associated with its wave motion. In this case it is assumed that there is an explicit connection between the trajectory and wave equations of the object. The application of the V-function method for the case of rectilinear motion of an object is shown.