We give a brief historical review of Louis de Broglie realistic research program as developed in Lisbon’s research group about nonlinear quantum physics. We propose and discuss “yes-no” type experiments to physically detect quantum waves, independently of the associated corpuscles. Thus, deciding if they are real physical perturbations or mere probability waves. We finally present a possible technological application for the detection of such waves in quantum communication.
We give a brief historical review of Louis de Broglie realistic research program as developed in Lisbon’s research group about nonlinear quantum physics. We propose and discuss “yes-no” type experiments to physically detect quantum waves, independently of the associated corpuscles. Thus, deciding if they are real physical perturbations or mere probability waves. We finally present a possible technological application for the detection of such waves in quantum communication.
Louis de Broglie’s original theory of matter waves has until very recently received relatively little treatment in the literature on history and foundations of physics. This paper attempts to clarify a number of aspects of de Broglie’s theory, as formulated primarily in his famous thesis, which still give rise to confusion or debate. To this end, a re-examination is made of the scope and validity of the relativistic physics employed in de Broglie’s arguments concerning the existence of phase waves and their physical implications. Recent doubts concerning the soundness of de Broglie’s introduction of a wave group associated with the quantum are also analyzed in detail, and it is argued that the wave group indeed has a problematic, if minor, role in the overall theory.
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.
The question related with the ontic nature of the quantum waves, whether they are mere probability waves or, on the contrary, do have a real physical existence is now settled by recent experiments based on ghost imaging technique. Indeed, these experiments have shown the real physical existence of subquantum waves, named also de Broglie waves, guiding waves, pilot waves, theta waves or subquantum waves. In order to better clarify the situation some minor modifications on the performed experiments are proposed.
Louis de Broglie’s doctoral thesis developed a concept of waves associated with material particles that was soon incorporated into wave mechanics and later supported by experimental demonstrations. De Broglie’s original development, however, relied on an incorrect identification of two quite different relations: the relation between the velocity of a particle and the relation between the group velocity of a wave packet and the velocity of individual waves in the packet. A clarification of this difference and its historial significance is followed by a tentative account of the reasons why de Broglie’s well-known formula proved successful, though the theory supporting it rested on a conceptual confusion. Finally, this development and clarification are related to some of the difficulties involved in the attempts top fashion a coherent interpretation of quantum theory.
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 very simple (therefore strong) argument, grounded in the action reaction principle, predicts the existence of isolated quantum, de Broglie waves.In this article I propose an experimental set up able to detect these quantum waves.As far as quantum waves are associated to any kind of elementary particles, massive or massless, charged or neutral, etc., its character is probably gravitational, i.e., they are micro-gravitational waves.The quantum wave is isolated when a particle can follow two (or more) alternative paths which later on can rejoin and interfere.We know that the corpuscular particle follows one path while the wave follows both.This wave could perturb a laser beam, and this perturbation could be detected in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer.