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arXiv:quant-ph/9711013

Pilot Wave Steerage: A Mechanism and Test

Aloysius F. Kracklauer

Published Nov 12, 1997• 1 citation
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

An intuitive, generic, physical model, or conceptual paradigm for pilot wave steerage of particle beams based on Stochastic Electrodynamics is presented. The utility of this model for understanding the Pauli Exclusion Principle is briefly considered, and a possible experimental verification for the underlying concepts is proposed. \\[7mm] Key words: Quantum Mechanics, Pilot Wave, Pauli Exclusion Principle, Stochastic Electrodynamics

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.quant-ph/9711013

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An intuitive, generic, physical model, or conceptual paradigm for pilot wave steerage of particle beams based on Stochastic Electrodynamics is presented. The utility of this model for understanding the Pauli Exclusion Principle is briefly considered, and a possible experimental verification for the underlying concepts is proposed. \[7mm] Key words: Quantum Mechanics, Pilot Wave, Pauli Exclusion Principle, Stochastic Electrodynamics
Abstract The pilot-wave theory of de Broglie and Bohm has a special place in the history of contemporary physics, being it the very first alternative formulation of quantum mechanics. As is well-known, such a framework established itself as a leading interpretation of the quantum formalism in virtue of the solutions provided to the major technical and conceptual challenges affecting the orthodox view. The de Broglie-Bohm theory in fact not only solves the famous measurement problem, one of the most cogent issues faced by standard quantum mechanics, but also it clarifies the formal structure of the latter theory as a consequence of a consistent set of principles and an precise, unambiguous ontology. This volume aims to provide the reader with a discussion of the pilot-wave perspective which is as informative, comprehensive and accessible as possible, while at the same time clarifying confusions and misunderstandings that are unfortunately still common in literature despite the long history of this theoretical framework. The book features chapters about the various perspectives on the pilot-wave theory, its extensions to relativity and quantum field theory, and its experimental applications to various branches of physics, as for instance quantum electrodynamics, quantum chemistry, and quantum engineering. Moreover, the volume includes essays on the history and philosophy of de Broglie-Bohm theory in order to delineate its developments and the vicissitudes of its pioneers, as well as to understand the scientific image of the universe it provides.
Of all basic principles of classical physics, realism should arguably be the last to be given up when seeking a better interpretation of quantum mechanics. We examine the de Broglie-Bohm pilot wave theory as a well-developed example of a realistic theory. We present three challenges to a naive reading of pilot wave theory, each based on a system of several entangled particles. With the help of a coarse graining of pilot wave theory into a discrete system, we show how these challenges can be answered. However, this comes with a cost. In the description of individual systems, particles appear to scatter off empty branches of the wave function as if they were particles and conversely travel through particles as if they were waves. More generally, the ``particles'' of pilot wave theory are led by the guidance equation to move in ways no classical particle would, involving apparent violations of the principles of inertia and momentum conservation. We next argue that the aforementioned cost can be avoided within a retrocausal model. In the proposed version of the pilot wave theory, the particle is guided by a combination of advanced and retarded waves. The resulting account for quantum physics seems to have greater heuristic power, demands less damage to intuition, and moreover provides some general hints regarding spacetime and causality. This is the first of two papers. In the second [E. Cohen, M. Cort\^es, A. C. Elitzur, and L. Smolin, Realism and causality. II. Retrocausality in energetic causal sets, Phys. Rev. D 102, 124028 (2020).], we show that, in the context of an explicit model, retrocausality, with respect to an effective, emergent spacetime metric, can coexist with a strict irreversibility of causal processes.
The modern state of the Pauli exclusion principle is shortly discussed. We describe the discovery by Pauli, his principle for electrons, and how it was generalized for all elementary particles in the framework of quantum mechanics. The motivations and theoretical conceptions that induced the experiments for verification of the Pauli exclusion principle are analyzed. The results and methodology of two different types of experiments are discussed: (1) the search of unusual atoms and nuclei in the stable non-Pauli states, and (2) the experiments in which the emitted radiation of non-Pauli transitions is measured. In conclusion, the comments on the discussed experiments that follow from the general quantum mechanical conceptions and group theory are formulated.
The Copenhagen interpretation has been the subject of much criticism, notably by De Broglie and Einstein, because it contradicts the principles of causality and realism. The aim of this essay is to study the wave mechanics as an alternative to traditional quantum mechanics, in the continuity of the ideas of Louis de Broglie: the pilot wave theory of De Broglie (where each particle is associated with a wave which guides it), De Broglie-Bohm theory, stochastic electrodynamics (where the stochastic character of particles is caused by the energy field of the fluctuating vacuum), and the analogies between quantum mechanics and hydrodynamics.