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Bohmian Mechanics and Quantum Theory: an Appraisal Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science

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Bohmian Mechanics and Quantum Theory: an Appraisal Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science BOHMIAN MECHANICS AND QUANTUM THEORY: AN APPRAISAL BOSTON STUDIES IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE Editor ROBERTS. COHEN, Boston University Editorial Advisory Board 1HOMAS F. GLICK, Boston University ADOLF GRUNBAUM, University ofPittsburgh SYLVAN S. SCHWEBER, Brandeis University JOHN J. STACHEL, Boston University MARX W. WARTOFSKY, Baruch College of the City University ofNew York VOLUME 184 BOHMIAN MECHANICS AND QUANTUM THEORY: AN APPRAISAL Edited by JAMES T. CUSHING Department of Physics, University of Notre Dame ARTHUR FINE Department of Philosophy, Northwestern University SHELDON GOLDSTEIN Department of Mathematics, Rutgers University SPRINGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bohrnian mechanics and quantum theory : an appraisal I edited by James T. Cush1ng, Arthur F1ne, Sheldon Goldstein. p. ern. -- <Boston studies 1n the philosophy of science ; v. 184) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-481-4698-7 ISBN 978-94-015-8715-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-015-8715-0 1. Quantum theory--MathematiCS. I. Cush 1ng. James T.. 1937- II. Fine, Arthur. III. Goldstein, Sheldon, 1947- IV. Ser1es. Q174.B67 vel. 184 [OC174.12l 001 · . 01 s--dc20 [530.1' 21 96-11973 ISBN 978-90-481-4698-7 Printed on acid-free paper All Rights Reserved © 1996 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 1996 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1996 No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner. TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE vii I. BOHMIAN MECHANICS: BACKGROUND AND FUNDAMENTALS JAMES T. CUSHING I The Causal Quantum Theory Program DETLEF DURR, SHELDON GOLDSTEIN and NINO ZANGHI I Bohmian Mechanics as the Foundation of Quantum Mechanics 21 ANTONY VALENTINI I Pilot-Wave Theory of Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology 45 LUCIEN HARDY I Contextuality in Bohmian Mechanics 67 KARIN BERNDL I Global Existence and Uniqueness of Bohmian Trajectories 77 MARTIN DAUMER I Scattering Theory from a Bohmian Per- ~~~ ~ PETER R. HOLLAND I Is Quantum Mechanics Universal? 99 II. APPLICATIONS AND FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS OF BOHMIAN MECHANICS C. RICHARD LEAVENS I The "Tunneling-Time Problem" for Electrons 111 EUAN J. SQUIRES I Local Bohmian Mechanics 131 Y AKIR AHARONOV and LEV V AIDMAN I About Position Measurements Which Do Not Show the Bohmian Particle Position 141 P. N. KALOYEROU I An Ontological Interpretation of Boson Fields 155 CHRIS DEWDNEY and GEORGE HORTON I De Broglie, Bohm and the Boson 169 TREVOR M. SAMOLS I A Realistic Formulation of Quantum Field Theory 191 DON N. PAGE I Attaching Theories of Consciousness to Bohmian Quantum Mechanics 197 v vi TABLE OF CONTENTS III. HISTORICAL, CONCEPTUAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES RELATED TO BOHMIAN MECHANICS MARA BELLER I Bohm and the "Inevitability" of Acausality 211 ARTHUR FINE I On the Interpretation of Bohmian Mechanics 231 MILLARD BAUBLITZ and ABNER SHIMONY I Tension in Bohm's Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics 251 ROBIN COLLINS I An Epistemological Critique of Bohmian Mechanics 265 DAVID Z ALBERT I Elementary Quantum Metaphysics 277 TIM MAUDLIN I Space-Time in the Quantum World 285 HARVEY R. BROWN, ANDREW ELBY and ROBERT WEINGARD I Cause and Effect in the Pilot-Wave Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics 309 MICHAEL DICKSON I Is the Bohm Theory Local? 321 IV. COMPARISONS WITH SOME OTHER PROGRAMS JEFFREY BUB I Modal Interpretations and Bohmian Mechanics 331 ADRIAN KENT I Remarks on Consistent Histories and Bohmian Mechanics 343 GIANCARLO GHIRARDI and RENATA GRASSI I Bohm's Theory Versus Dynamical Reduction 353 BIBLIOGRAPHY 379 INDEX 399 PREFACE We are often told that quantum phenomena demand radical revisions of our scientific world view and that no physical theory describing well defined objects, such as particles described by their positions, evolving in a well defined way, let alone deterministically, can account for such phenomena. The great majority of physicists continue to subscribe to this view, despite the fact that just such a deterministic theory, accounting for all of the phe­ nomena of nonrelativistic quantum mechanics, was proposed by David Bohm more than four decades ago and has arguably been around almost since the inception of quantum mechanics itself. Our purpose in asking colleagues to write the essays for this volume has not been to produce a Festschrift in honor of David Bohm (worthy an undertaking as that would have been) or to gather together a collection of papers simply stating uncritically Bohm's views on quantum mechanics. The central theme around which the essays in this volume are arranged is David Bohm's version of quantum mechanics. It has by now become fairly standard practice to refer to his theory as Bohmian mechanics and to the larger conceptual framework within which this is located as the causal quantum theory program. While it is true that one can have reservations about the appropriateness of these specific labels, both do elicit distinc­ tive images characteristic of the key concepts of these approaches and such terminology does serve effectively to contrast this class of theories with more standard formulations of quantum theory. The papers in this volume have been grouped around four main topics: the essentials of Bohmian mechanics; detailed applications and extensions of these basics; historical and conceptual analyses of the program; com­ parisons and contrasts with other formulations of quantum mechanics. We hope that this book will contribute to a serious and ongoing critical analysis, extension and application of the central ideas of Bohmian mechanics to test them for consistency, empirical adequacy and fruitfulness in gener­ ating new avenues of research. By no means are all of the authors represented here enthusiastic supporters of Bohm 's approach to quantum mechanics. Nor do the editors necessarily agree with every major position taken in these essays. Points of dissent among authors, even on what are in some cases matters of historical or technical fact, will be evident to the reader. For example, the third essay in this volume suggests that the standard history of early quantum mechanics significantly underrates how complete Louis de Broglie's 1927 pilot-wave theory actually was and the extent to which it anticipated Bohm's 1952 version of quantum mechanics. This type of give-and-take is, of course, not unexpected if a research program vii J. T. Cushing et al. (eds.), Bohmian Mechanics and Quantum Theory: An Appraisal, vii-viii. viii PREFACE is to be fairly and productively scrutinized and if there is to be ongoing debate. We, and many of the other authors of these essays, benefited greatly from having the opportunity to discuss our ideas at a conference, "Quantum Theory Without Observers," conceived of and organized by Professor Detlef Diirr of the Mathematics Institute at the University of Munich and held in Bielefeld, Germany, on July 24-28, 1995. Although this volume is in no sense a proceedings of that conference (which was devoted to more than just Bohmian mechanics), it is nevertheless true that the majority of our authors were participants at this conference, where they were able to subject the work represented in their essays to the critical appraisal of, and to engage in stimulating exchanges with, the many experts in the foundations of quantum mechanics who were gathered for this splendid occasion. For this we are all indebted to Professor Diirr. JAMES T. CUSHING ARTHUR FINE SHELDON GOLDSTEIN Department of Physics Department of Department of University of Notre Philosophy Mathematics Dame Northwestern University Rutgers University December, 1995 .
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