4 ms·
From the article: "In Bohmian mechanics, every electron always has a definite position, even if observers are ignorant of what it is. An electron is pushed aro
by _kst_ 10y ago
From the article:
"In Bohmian mechanics, every electron always has a definite position, even if observers are ignorant of what it is. An electron is pushed around by a guiding "pilot wave" that influences the electron's location. While each electron travels through one slit or the other, the pilot wave passes through both slits simultaneously. Interference in the pilot wave leads to the observed interference pattern."
In the unlikely event that I understand this correctly, isn't what Bohmian mechanics calls "the pilot wave" just what the Copenhagen interpretation calls "the electron"? (Or perhaps "the electron's probability distribution"?)
- digi_owl 10y agoKinda. But while with the Copenhagen interpretation the "wave" is internal, Bohmian mechanics makes it external. And thus the question becomes, what is the source of this wave, how can it be affected by events, etc etc etc. And thus you get nonlocality. Where distant events generate a "bohmian wave" that impact local experiments even if they carry no particles. I guess you may see it as a case of unobserved butterfly on Pluto cause avalanche on earth, simply because the wing flap set a pilot wave in just the right motion.
- effie 10y agoIn Copenhagen, electron is "mysterious quantum object", unlike wave, unlike particle, just showing off properties of both in different experiments. It is not meant to be the same thing as \psi function, which is regarded as mere calculational device that describes this mysterious quantum object. The pilot wave in de Broglie-Bohm theory is just the \psi function with the addition that this function is "real", that is exists objectively and not merely on paper.
- _kst_ 10y agoI have to admit that I'm unclear on the distinction between "exists objectively" and "merely on paper" in this context.
- effie 10y agoMy bad, I didn't say it very well. The point is, in de Broglie-Bohm theory, it is assumed that particles are material points that exist, have trajectories. The motion of the particles is influenced by \psi, kind of like motion of charged particle is influenced by electric field in EM theory. These particles and the \psi function are the subject of the theory, so they "really exist" in this theory. In Copenhagen theory, \psi is understood to be mere calculational device the main purpose of which is to get probabilities of results of measurements. There is no idea that particles actually are there moving along trajectories; the subject of the theory are results of measurements and \psi is only a theoretician's tool to get their possible values and probabilities.