Experimental Comparison of Bohm-like Theories with Different Primary Ontologies

Arthur O. T. Pang; Hugo Ferretti; Noah Lupu-Gladstein; Weng-Kian Tham; Aharon Brodutch; Kent Bonsma-Fisher; J. E. Sipe; Aephraim M. Steinberg

doi:10.22331/q-2020-11-26-365

Experimental Comparison of Bohm-like Theories with Different Primary Ontologies

Arthur O. T. Pang¹, Hugo Ferretti¹, Noah Lupu-Gladstein¹, Weng-Kian Tham¹, Aharon Brodutch¹, Kent Bonsma-Fisher^1,2, J. E. Sipe¹, and Aephraim M. Steinberg^1,3

¹Department of Physics and Centre for Quantum Information Quantum Control, University of Toronto, 60 St George St, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1A7, Canada
²National Research Council of Canada, 100 Sussex Dr, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0R6, Canada
³Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 1M1, Canada

Published:	2020-11-26, volume 4, page 365
Eprint:	arXiv:1910.13405v3
Doi:	https://doi.org/10.22331/q-2020-11-26-365
Citation:	Quantum 4, 365 (2020).

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Abstract

The de Broglie-Bohm theory is a hidden-variable interpretation of quantum mechanics which involves particles moving through space along deterministic trajectories. This theory singles out position as the primary ontological variable. Mathematically, it is possible to construct a similar theory where particles are moving through momentum-space, and momentum is singled out as the primary ontological variable. In this paper, we construct the putative particle trajectories for a two-slit experiment in both the position and momentum-space theories by simulating particle dynamics with coherent light. Using a method for constructing trajectories in the primary and non-primary spaces, we compare the phase-space dynamics offered by the two theories and show that they do not agree. This contradictory behaviour underscores the difficulty of selecting one picture of reality from the infinite number of possibilities offered by Bohm-like theories.

Popular summary

In this paper, we construct the putative particle trajectories for a two-slit experiment in the de Broglie-Bohm theory and a similar theory with momentum as the primary ontological variable. We compare the phase-space dynamics offered by the two theories and show that they do not agree. This contradictory behaviour underscores the difficulty of selecting one picture of reality from the infinite number of possibilities offered by Bohm-like theories.

► BibTeX data

@article{Pang2020experimental,
  doi = {10.22331/q-2020-11-26-365},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.22331/q-2020-11-26-365},
  title = {Experimental {C}omparison of {B}ohm-like {T}heories with {D}ifferent {P}rimary {O}ntologies},
  author = {Pang, Arthur O. T. and Ferretti, Hugo and Lupu-Gladstein, Noah and Tham, Weng-Kian and Brodutch, Aharon and Bonsma-Fisher, Kent and Sipe, J. E. and Steinberg, Aephraim M.},
  journal = {{Quantum}},
  issn = {2521-327X},
  publisher = {{Verein zur F{\"{o}}rderung des Open Access Publizierens in den Quantenwissenschaften}},
  volume = {4},
  pages = {365},
  month = nov,
  year = {2020}
}

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Cited by

[1] Carlos F. Destefani and Xavier Oriols, "Assessing quantum thermalization in physical and configuration spaces via many-body weak values", Physical Review A 107 1, 012213 (2023).

[2] John S. Briggs, "Trajectories and the perception of classical motion in the free propagation of wave packets", Natural Sciences 2 2(2022).

[3] Devashish Pandey, Rui Sampaio, Tapio Ala-Nissila, Guillermo Albareda, and Xavier Oriols, "Identifying weak values with intrinsic dynamical properties in modal theories", Physical Review A 103 5, 052219 (2021).

The above citations are from Crossref's cited-by service (last updated successfully 2023-06-09 07:46:43) and SAO/NASA ADS (last updated successfully 2023-06-09 07:46:44). The list may be incomplete as not all publishers provide suitable and complete citation data.

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