Non-Markovian wave-function collapse models are Bohmian-like theories in disguise

Spontaneous collapse models and Bohmian mechanics are two different solutions to the measurement problem plaguing orthodox quantum mechanics. They have, a priori nothing in common. At a formal level, collapse models add a non-linear noise term to the Schrödinger equation, and extract definite measur...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales:	Antoine Tilloy, Howard M. Wiseman
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Verein zur Förderung des Open Access Publizierens in den Quantenwissenschaften 2021
Materias:	Physics QC1-999
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/370f2027e3d546f381db42316b990b0a
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:370f2027e3d546f381db42316b990b0a
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:370f2027e3d546f381db42316b990b0a2021-11-29T17:04:16ZNon-Markovian wave-function collapse models are Bohmian-like theories in disguise2521-327X10.22331/q-2021-11-29-594https://doaj.org/article/370f2027e3d546f381db42316b990b0a2021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://quantum-journal.org/papers/q-2021-11-29-594/pdf/https://doaj.org/toc/2521-327XSpontaneous collapse models and Bohmian mechanics are two different solutions to the measurement problem plaguing orthodox quantum mechanics. They have, a priori nothing in common. At a formal level, collapse models add a non-linear noise term to the Schrödinger equation, and extract definite measurement outcomes either from the wave function ($e.g.$ mass density ontology) or the noise itself (flash ontology). Bohmian mechanics keeps the Schrödinger equation intact but uses the wave function to guide particles (or fields), which comprise the primitive ontology. Collapse models modify the predictions of orthodox quantum mechanics, whilst Bohmian mechanics can be argued to reproduce them. However, it turns out that collapse models and their primitive ontology can be exactly recast as Bohmian theories. More precisely, considering (i) a system described by a non-Markovian collapse model, and (ii) an extended system where a carefully tailored bath is added and described by Bohmian mechanics, the stochastic wave-function of the collapse model is exactly the wave-function of the original system conditioned on the Bohmian hidden variables of the bath. Further, the noise driving the collapse model is a linear functional of the Bohmian variables. The randomness that seems progressively revealed in the collapse models lies entirely in the initial conditions in the Bohmian-like theory. Our construction of the appropriate bath is not trivial and exploits an old result from the theory of open quantum systems. This reformulation of collapse models as Bohmian theories brings to the fore the question of whether there exists `unromantic' realist interpretations of quantum theory that cannot ultimately be rewritten this way, with some guiding law. It also points to important foundational differences between `true' (Markovian) collapse models and non-Markovian models.Antoine TilloyHoward M. WisemanVerein zur Förderung des Open Access Publizierens in den QuantenwissenschaftenarticlePhysicsQC1-999ENQuantum, Vol 5, p 594 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Physics QC1-999
spellingShingle	Physics QC1-999 Antoine Tilloy Howard M. Wiseman Non-Markovian wave-function collapse models are Bohmian-like theories in disguise
description	Spontaneous collapse models and Bohmian mechanics are two different solutions to the measurement problem plaguing orthodox quantum mechanics. They have, a priori nothing in common. At a formal level, collapse models add a non-linear noise term to the Schrödinger equation, and extract definite measurement outcomes either from the wave function ($e.g.$ mass density ontology) or the noise itself (flash ontology). Bohmian mechanics keeps the Schrödinger equation intact but uses the wave function to guide particles (or fields), which comprise the primitive ontology. Collapse models modify the predictions of orthodox quantum mechanics, whilst Bohmian mechanics can be argued to reproduce them. However, it turns out that collapse models and their primitive ontology can be exactly recast as Bohmian theories. More precisely, considering (i) a system described by a non-Markovian collapse model, and (ii) an extended system where a carefully tailored bath is added and described by Bohmian mechanics, the stochastic wave-function of the collapse model is exactly the wave-function of the original system conditioned on the Bohmian hidden variables of the bath. Further, the noise driving the collapse model is a linear functional of the Bohmian variables. The randomness that seems progressively revealed in the collapse models lies entirely in the initial conditions in the Bohmian-like theory. Our construction of the appropriate bath is not trivial and exploits an old result from the theory of open quantum systems. This reformulation of collapse models as Bohmian theories brings to the fore the question of whether there exists `unromantic' realist interpretations of quantum theory that cannot ultimately be rewritten this way, with some guiding law. It also points to important foundational differences between `true' (Markovian) collapse models and non-Markovian models.
format	article
author	Antoine Tilloy Howard M. Wiseman
author_facet	Antoine Tilloy Howard M. Wiseman
author_sort	Antoine Tilloy
title	Non-Markovian wave-function collapse models are Bohmian-like theories in disguise
title_short	Non-Markovian wave-function collapse models are Bohmian-like theories in disguise
title_full	Non-Markovian wave-function collapse models are Bohmian-like theories in disguise
title_fullStr	Non-Markovian wave-function collapse models are Bohmian-like theories in disguise
title_full_unstemmed	Non-Markovian wave-function collapse models are Bohmian-like theories in disguise
title_sort	non-markovian wave-function collapse models are bohmian-like theories in disguise
publisher	Verein zur Förderung des Open Access Publizierens in den Quantenwissenschaften
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/370f2027e3d546f381db42316b990b0a
work_keys_str_mv	AT antoinetilloy nonmarkovianwavefunctioncollapsemodelsarebohmianliketheoriesindisguise AT howardmwiseman nonmarkovianwavefunctioncollapsemodelsarebohmianliketheoriesindisguise
_version_	1718407216472522752

Non-Markovian wave-function collapse models are Bohmian-like theories in disguise

Ejemplares similares