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Pilot-Wave Quantum Theory with a Single Bohm’s Trajectory

Foundations of Physics volume 46, pages 575–605 (2016)Cite this article

Abstract

The representation of a quantum system as the spatial configuration of its constituents evolving in time as a trajectory under the action of the wave-function, is the main objective of the de Broglie–Bohm theory (or pilot wave theory). However, its standard formulation is referred to the statistical ensemble of its possible trajectories. The statistical ensemble is introduced in order to establish the exact correspondence (the Born’s rule) between the probability density on the spatial configurations and the quantum distribution, that is the squared modulus of the wave-function. In this work we explore the possibility of using the pilot wave theory at the level of a single Bohm’s trajectory, that is a single realization of the time dependent configuration which should be representative of a single realization of the quantum system. The pilot wave theory allows a formally self-consistent representation of quantum systems as a single Bohm’s trajectory, but in this case there is no room for the Born’s rule at least in its standard form. We will show that a correspondence exists between the statistical distribution of configurations along the single Bohm’s trajectory and the quantum distribution for a subsystem interacting with the environment in a multicomponent system. To this aim, we present the numerical results of the single Bohm’s trajectory description of the model system of six confined planar rotors with random interactions. We find a rather close correspondence between the coordinate distribution of one rotor, the others representing the environment, along its trajectory and the time averaged marginal quantum distribution for the same rotor. This might be considered as the counterpart of the standard Born’s rule when the pilot wave theory is applied at the level of single Bohm’s trajectory. Furthermore a strongly fluctuating behavior with a fast loss of correlation is found for the evolution of each rotor coordinate. This suggests that a Markov process might well approximate the evolution of the Bohm’s coordinate of a single rotor (the subsystem) and, under this condition, it is shown that the correspondence between coordinate distribution and quantum distribution of the rotor is exactly verified.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the support by Univesità degli Studi di Padova through \(60\,\%\) grants. We thank the anonymous reviewers for critical comments and the suggestions.

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  1. Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Università di Padova, via Marzolo 1, 35131, Padova, Italy

    Francesco Avanzini, Barbara Fresch & Giorgio J. Moro

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  1. Francesco Avanzini
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  2. Barbara Fresch
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  3. Giorgio J. Moro
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Correspondence to Giorgio J. Moro.

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Avanzini, F., Fresch, B. & Moro, G.J. Pilot-Wave Quantum Theory with a Single Bohm’s Trajectory. Found Phys 46, 575–605 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10701-015-9979-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10701-015-9979-1

Keywords

  • Quantum statistical mechanics
  • de Broglie–Bohm theory
  • Pure quantum state statistics