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Entropy

Uncertainty Relations in the Madelung Picture

Moise Bonilla–Licea, Dieter Schuch

Published Dec 23, 2021• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Madelung showed how the complex Schrödinger equation can be rewritten in terms of two real equations, one for the phase and one for the amplitude of the complex wave function, where both equations are not independent of each other, but coupled. Although these equations formally look like classical hydrodynamic equations, they contain all the information about the quantum system. Concerning the quantum mechanical uncertainties of position and momentum, however, this is not so obvious at first sight. We show how these uncertainties are related to the phase and amplitude of the wave function in position and momentum space and, particularly, that the contribution from the phase essentially depends on the position-momentum correlations. This will be illustrated explicitly using generalized coherent states as examples.

DOI
10.3390/e24010020

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Madelung showed how the complex Schrödinger equation can be rewritten in terms of two real equations, one for the phase and one for the amplitude of the complex wave function, where both equations are not independent of each other, but coupled. Although these equations formally look like classical hydrodynamic equations, they contain all the information about the quantum system. Concerning the quantum mechanical uncertainties of position and momentum, however, this is not so obvious at first sight. We show how these uncertainties are related to the phase and amplitude of the wave function in position and momentum space and, particularly, that the contribution from the phase essentially depends on the position-momentum correlations. This will be illustrated explicitly using generalized coherent states as examples.
In a recent paper, we have shown how in Madelung's hydrodynamic formulation of quantum mechanics, the uncertainties are related to the phase and amplitude of the complex wave function. Now we include a dissipative environment via a nonlinear modified Schrödinger equation. The effect of the environment is described by a complex logarithmic nonlinearity that vanishes on average. Nevertheless, there are various changes in the dynamics of the uncertainties originating from the nonlinear term. Again, this is illustrated explicitly using generalized coherent states as examples. With particular focus on the quantum mechanical contribution to the energy and the uncertainty product, connections can be made with the thermodynamic properties of the environment.
Phase and amplitude of the complex wave function are not independent of each other, but coupled, which becomes obvious looking at Madelung's hydrodynamic formulation of quantum mechanics. In the time-independent case, this leads to a kind of conservation law that allows for the reformulation of the linear Schrodinger equation in terms of a nonlinear Ermakov equation which is equivalent to a complex Riccati equation where the quadratic term in this equation explains the origin of the phase-amplitude coupling. A similar conservation law and corresponding nonlinear equations can also be found in the time-dependent case. The gain from the nonlinear formulations emerges when open systems with dissipation and irreversibility are considered. Describing this kind of systems by an effective nonlinear Schrodinger equation leads to a modification of the above-mentioned equations with new qualitative effects like Hopf bifurcations.
The hydrodynamical form of Wigner–Dunkl quantum mechanics has been formulated. The main step to get such formulation was to derive a pair of Madelung-like equations (called Madelung–Wigner–Dunkl equations) from the Schrödinger equation appearing in Wigner–Dunkl quantum mechanics. Some aspects of both equations contained in the pair, i.e. the inhomogeneous continuity equation and the quantum Hamilton–Jacobi equation, have been investigated and discussed. With certain assumption, the relation between the expectation value of the quantum potential appearing in the quantum Hamilton–Jacobi equation and the so-called Fisher information has been derived. Then an uncertainty relation between momentum and position which may be tighter than the standard uncertainty relation has been derived by using Cramér–Rao inequality and Fisher information.
In the first days of quantum mechanics Dirac pointed out an analogy between the time-dependent coefficients of an expansion of the Schr\"odinger equation and the classical position and momentum variables solving Hamilton's equations. Here it is shown that the analogy can be made an equivalence in that, in principle, systems of classical oscillators can be constructed whose position and momenta variables form time-dependent amplitudes which are identical to the complex quantum amplitudes of the coupled wave function of an NNN-level quantum system with real coupling matrix elements. Hence classical motion can reproduce quantum coherence.
Quantum mechanics is essentially described in terms of complex quantities like wave functions. The interesting point is that phase and amplitude of the complex wave function are not independent of each other, but coupled by some kind of conservation law. This coupling exists in time-independent quantum mechanics and has a counterpart in its time-dependent form. It can be traced back to a reformulation of quantum mechanics in terms of nonlinear real Ermakov equations or equivalent complex nonlinear Riccati equations, where the quadratic term in the latter equation explains the origin of the phase-amplitude coupling. Since realistic physical systems are always in contact with some kind of environment this aspect is also taken into account. In this context, different approaches for describing open quantum systems, particularly effective ones, are discussed and compared. Certain kinds of nonlinear modifications of the Schrödinger equation are discussed as well as their interrelations and their relations to linear approaches via non-unitary transformations. The modifications of the aforementioned Ermakov and Riccati equations when environmental effects are included can be determined in the time-dependent case. From formal similarities conclusions can be drawn how the equations of time-independent quantum mechanics can be modified to also incluce the enviromental aspects.
In this work, we propose an alternative formulation for the description of quantum dynamics based on a displacement interpretation of the Schrödinger equation. Startingfrom a generalized wave propagation framework, we show that the Schrödinger equation can be recovered in a form that admits a displacement-type interpretation ofthe wave function. Within this formulation, we derive a momentum-related relation, referred to as the Schrödinger momentum equation, which provides an effective description of quantumpropagation. This relation allows for a unified discussion of several foundational aspects of quantum mechanics, including interference phenomena, coherence anddecoherence, and quantum correlations. The proposed framework is deterministic and explicitly nonlocal, and remains consistent with established experimental observations. In addition, we examine theimplications of this formulation for the interpretation of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, showing that uncertainty-type relations can be naturally obtained within thisapproach while preserving measurement-dependent limitations. Overall, the present work offers a complementary perspective on quantum mechanics that may contribute to ongoing discussions on its conceptual foundations.