Reality and meaning of the wave function

Gao, Shan

doi:10.1017/cbo9781107706927.016

Cited by 9 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 37 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…But, Bohmian mechanics does not vindicate the picture that Levine and Pauling paint (see section 4.3). Still, one may seek an alternative dynamics for which −e times the amplitude-squared of the electron wave function gives the time-averaged charge density (an approach recently advocated by Gao [5][6][7][8]).…”

Section: Probability Density and Charge Densitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Physicists and philosophers have put forward a number of interpretations of quantum mechanics that seek to be clear about the ontology of the theory (what exists according to the theory), among which we will focus here on Ghirardi-Rimini-Weber (GRW) theory, the many-worlds interpretation, Bohmian mechanics, and the recent proposals by Hall et al [3], Sebens [4], and Gao [5][6][7][8]. Such attempts to clarify the ontology of quantum mechanics do not always include a charge density like the one Schrödinger proposed, though we will see in section 4 that it can often be added.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Electron Charge Density: A Clue from Quantum Chemistry for Quantum Foundations

Sebens

2021

Found Phys

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Within quantum chemistry, the electron clouds that surround nuclei in atoms and molecules are sometimes treated as clouds of probability and sometimes as clouds of charge. These two roles, tracing back to Schrödinger and Born, are in tension with one another but are not incompatible. Schrödinger's idea that the nucleus of an atom is surrounded by a spread-out electron charge density is supported by a variety of evidence from quantum chemistry, including two methods that are used to determine atomic and molecular structure: the Hartree-Fock method and density functional theory. Taking this evidence as a clue to the foundations of quantum physics, Schrödinger's electron charge density can be incorporated into many different interpretations of quantum mechanics (and extensions of such interpretations to quantum field theory).

show abstract

Section: Probability Density and Charge Densitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electron Charge Density: A Clue from Quantum Chemistry for Quantum Foundations

Sebens

2021

Found Phys

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…It can be further argued that the classical ergodic models, which assume continuous motion of particles, are inconsistent with quantum mechanics (Gao 2011). For example, consider an electron in a superposition of two energy eigenstates in two boxes.…”

Section: The Physical Origin Of Charge Densitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Cohn 1993). It has been shown that the position density ) , ( t x ρ and the position flux density ) , ( t x j provide a complete description for the random discontinuous motion of a single particle (Gao 2011 , and it also provides a complete description of the state of random discontinuous motion of a single particle. For the motion of many particles, the joint position density and joint position flux density are defined in the 3N-dimensional configuration space, and thus the many-particle wave function, which is composed of these two quantities, is also defined in the 3N-dimensional configuration space.…”

Section: The Wave Function As a Description Of Random Discontinuous Mmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Wave Function and Quantum Reality

Gao¹

2011

AIP Conference Proceedings

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We investigate the meaning of the wave function by analyzing the mass and charge density distribution of a quantum system. According to protective measurement, a charged quantum system has mass and charge density proportional to the modulus square of its wave function. It is shown that the mass and charge density is not real but effective, and it is formed by the ergodic motion of a localized particle with the total mass and charge of the system. Moreover, it is argued that the ergodic motion is not continuous but discontinuous and random. This result suggests a new interpretation of the wave function, according to which the wave function is a description of random discontinuous motion of particles, and the modulus square of the wave function gives the probability density of the particles being in certain locations. It is shown that the suggested interpretation of the wave function disfavors the de Broglie-Bohm theory and the many-worlds interpretation but favors the dynamical collapse theories, and the random discontinuous motion of particles may provide an appropriate random source to collapse the wave function.Comment: 8 pages, no figure

show abstract

“…Therefore, any attacks against pilot-wave interpretation is particularly interesting and instructive to learn something new about the mysterious quantum universe. It is the aim of this chapter to review the debate surrounding protective measurement and pilot-wave (see also [42] and [39]) and to show if it is possible to reconciliate the different interpretations of the results given in [28].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%