Bohmian mechanics also known as de Broglie-Bohm theory is the most popular alternative approach to quantum mechanics. Whereas the standard interpretation of quantum mechanics is based on the complementarity principle Bohmian mechanics assumes that both particle and wave are concrete physical objects. In 1993 Peter Holland has written an ardent account on the plausibility of the de Broglie-Bohm theory. He proved that it fully reproduces quantum mechanics if the initial particle distribution is consistent with a solution of the Schrödinger equation. Which may be the reasons that Bohmian mechanics has not yet found global acceptance? In this article it will be shown that predicted properties of atoms and molecules are in conflict with experimental findings. Moreover it will be demonstrated that repeatedly published ensembles of trajectories illustrating double slit diffraction processes do not agree with quantum mechanics. The credibility of a theory is undermined when recognizably wrong data presented frequently over years are finally not declared obsolete.
Quoting James Cushing (1994): '... most will never have heard of Bohm's theory. Those who have are certain it must be wrong, although they are not sure exactly why...Those few who still remain to listen to a description of Bohm's theory are usually surprised when they learn that they can, if they wish, consistently believe in actual particle trajectories in a space-time background.'In this talk we present the main features of the de Broglie-Bohm quantum mechanics from a perspective where it could provide a path to new physics, where the orthodox approach to quantum mechanics would be an effective description of a more fundamental underlying theory.
de Broglie-Bohm theory (dBBT), treating quantum particles as point objects moving along well defined (Bohmian) trajectories, offers an appealing solution of the measurement problem in quantum mechanics; it has, however, problems relating to spin, relativity and lack of proper integration with the Hilbert space based framework. In this work, we present a consistent formalism which has the traditional state-observable framework integrated with the desirable features of dBBT. We adopt ensemble interpretation for the Schrodinger wave function
ψ. Given a Schrodinger wave function
ψ, we use its value
ψ0 at some fixed time (say,
t=0) to define the probability measure
∣ψ0∣2dx on the system configuration space
M (
=Rn). On the resulting probability space
M0, we introduce a stochastic process
ξ(t) corresponding to the Heisenberg position operator
XH(t) such that, in the Heisenberg state
∣ψh⟩ corresponding to
ψ0, the expectation value of
XH(t) equals that of
ξ(t) in
M0. This condition leads to the de Broglie-Bohm guidance equation for the sample paths of the process
ξ(t) which are, therefore, Bohmian trajectories supposedly representing time-evolutions of individual members of the
ψ0-ensemble. Stochastic processes and Bohmian trajectories corresponding to observables with discrete eigenvalues (in particular spin) are treated by extending the configuration space to the spectral space of the commutative algebra obtained by adding appropriate discrete observables to the position observables. Pauli's equation is treated as an example. A straightforward derivation of von Neumann's projection rule employing the Schrodinger-Bohm evolution of individual systems along their Bohmian trajectories is given. Some comments on the potential application of the formalism developed here to quantum mechanics of the universe are included.
The de Broglie–Bohm theory is about non-relativistic point-particles that move deterministically along trajectories. The theory reproduces the predictions of standard quantum theory, given that the distribution of particles over an ensemble of systems, all described by the same wavefunction ψ, equals the quantum equilibrium distribution |ψ| 2 . Numerical simulations done by Valentini and Westman (2005 Proc. R. Soc. A 461 253) have illustrated that non-equilibrium particle distributions may relax to quantum equilibrium after some time. Here we consider non-equilibrium distributions and their relaxation properties for a particular class of trajectory theories (first studied in detail by Deotto and Ghirardi (1998 Found. Phys. 28 1)) that are empirically equivalent to the de Broglie–Bohm theory in quantum equilibrium. In the examples we studied of such theories, we found a speed-up of the relaxation, compared to the ordinary de Broglie–Bohm theory. Hence non-equilibrium predictions that depend strongly on relaxation properties, such as those studied recently by Valentini, may vary across different trajectory theories. As such, these theories might be experimentally distinguishable.