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arXiv:quant-ph/0701085 · Journal of Physics A Mathematical and Theoretical

A Dirac sea pilot-wave model for quantum field theory

S Colin, W Struyve

Published Jun 12, 2007• 84 citations
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Abstract

We present a pilot-wave model for quantum field theory in which the Dirac sea is taken seriously. The model ascribes particle trajectories to all the fermions, including the fermions filling the Dirac sea. The model is deterministic and applies to the regime in which fermion number is superselected. This work is a further elaboration of work by Colin, in which a Dirac sea pilot-wave model is presented for quantum electrodynamics. We extend his work to non-electromagnetic interactions, we discuss a cut-off regularization of the pilot-wave model and study how it reproduces the standard quantum predictions. The Dirac sea pilot-wave model can be seen as a possible continuum generalization of a lattice model by Bell. It can also be seen as a development and generalization of the ideas by Bohm, Hiley and Kaloyerou, who also suggested the use of the Dirac sea for the development of a pilot-wave model for quantum electrodynamics.

DOI
10.1088/1751-8113/40/26/015

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We present a pilot-wave model for quantum field theory in which the Dirac sea is taken seriously. The model ascribes particle trajectories to all the fermions, including the fermions filling the Dirac sea. The model is deterministic and applies to the regime in which fermion number is superselected. This work is a further elaboration of work by Colin, in which a Dirac sea pilot-wave model is presented for quantum electrodynamics. We extend his work to non-electromagnetic interactions, we discuss a cut-off regularization of the pilot-wave model and study how it reproduces the standard quantum predictions. The Dirac sea pilot-wave model can be seen as a possible continuum generalization of a lattice model by Bell. It can also be seen as a development and generalization of the ideas by Bohm, Hiley and Kaloyerou, who also suggested the use of the Dirac sea for the development of a pilot-wave model for quantum electrodynamics.
We present a pilot-wave model for quantum field theory in which the Dirac sea is taken seriously. The model ascribes particle trajectories to all the fermions, including the fermions filling the Dirac sea. The model is deterministic and applies to the regime in which fermion-number is super-selected. This work is a further elaboration of work by Colin, in which a Dirac sea pilot-wave model is presented for quantum electrodynamics. We extend his work to non-electromagnetic interactions, we discuss the regularization of the pilot-wave model and study how it reproduces the standard quantum predictions. The Dirac sea pilot-model can be seen as a possible continuum generalization of a lattice model by Bell. It can also be seen as a development and generalization of the ideas by Bohm, Hiley and Kaloyerou, who also suggested the use of the Dirac sea for the development of a pilot-wave model for quantum electrodynamics. 1
We present a way to construct a pilot-wave model for quantum electrodynamics. The idea is to introduce beables corresponding only to the bosonic and not to the fermionic degrees of freedom of the quantum state. We show that this is sufficient to reproduce the quantum predictions. The beables will be field beables corresponding to the electromagnetic field and will be introduced in a way similar to that of Bohm's model for the free electromagnetic field. Our approach is analogous to the situation in non-relativistic quantum theory, where Bell treated spin not as a beable but only as a property of the wave function. After presenting this model, we also discuss a simple way for introducing additional beables that represent the fermionic degrees of freedom.
In this thesis we study the de Broglie-Bohm pilot-wave interpretation of quantum theory. We consider the domain of non-relativistic quantum theory, relativistic quantum theory and quantum field theory, and in each domain we consider the possibility of formulating a pilot-wave interpretation. For non-relativistic quantum theory a pilot-wave interpretation in terms of particle beables can readily be formulated. But this interpretation can in general not straightforwardly be generalized to relativistic wave equations. The problems which prevent us from devising a pilot-wave interpretation for relativistic wave equations also plague the standard quantum mechanical interpretation, where these problems led to the conception of quantum field theory. Therefore most of our attention is focussed on the construction of a pilot-wave interpretation for quantum field theory. We thereby favour the field beable approach, developed amongst others by Bohm, Hiley, Holland, Kaloyerou and Valentini. Although the field beable approach can be successfully applied to bosonic quantum field theory, it seems not straightforward to do so for fermionic quantum field theory.
We consider a pilot-wave approach for the Dirac theory that was recently proposed by Colin and Wiseman. In this approach, the particles perform a zig-zag motion, due to stochastic jumps of their velocity. We respectively discuss the one-particle theory, the many-particle theory and possible extensions to quantum field theory. We also discuss the non-relativistic limit of the one-particle theory. For a single particle, the motion is always luminal, a feature that persists in the non-relativistic limit. For more than one particle the motion is in general subluminal.
We consider a pilot-wave approach for the Dirac theory that was recently proposed by Colin and Wiseman. In this approach, the particles perform a zig-zag motion, due to stochastic jumps of their velocity. We respectively discuss the one-particle theory, the many-particle theory and possible extensions to quantum field theory. We also discuss the non-relativistic limit of the one-particle theory. For a single particle, the motion is always luminal, a feature that persists in the non-relativistic limit. For more than one particle, the motion is in general subluminal.
We present a way to construct a pilot‐wave model for quantum field theory. The idea is to introduce beables corresponding only to the bosonic degrees of freedom and not to the fermionic degrees of freedom of the quantum state. We provide an illustration and a justification of this idea in the context of quantum electrodynamics. The beables are fields and correspond to the degrees of freedom of the electromagnetic field. The field beables are introduced in a similar way to that of Bohm’s model for the free electromagnetic field. Our approach is analogous to the situation in non‐relativistic quantum theory, where Bell treated spin not as a beable but only as a property of the wavefunction.