Elements of sub-quantum thermodynamics: quantum motion as ballistic diffusion

Abstract

By modelling quantum systems as emerging from a (classical) sub-quantum thermodynamics, the quantum mechanical "decay of the wave packet" is shown to simply result from sub-quantum diffusion with a specific diffusion coefficient varying in time due to a particle's changing thermal environment. It is thereby proven that free quantum motion strictly equals ballistic diffusion. The exact quantum mechanical trajectory distributions and the velocity field of the Gaussian wave packet are thus derived solely from classical physics. Moreover, also quantum motion in a linear (e.g., gravitational) potential is shown to equal said ballistic diffusion. Quantitative statements on the trajectories' characteristic behaviours are obtained which provide a detailed "micro-causal" explanation in full accordance with momentum conservation.

21 pages, 2 figures; based on the talk at the Fifth International Workshop DICE2010, Castiglioncello (Tuscany), September 13--17, 2010

References in corpus (5)

• A trajectory-based understanding of quantum interference
• The Vacuum Fluctuation Theorem: Exact Schroedinger Equation via Nonequilibrium Thermodynamics
• On the Thermodynamic Origin of the Quantum Potential
• The Attractor and the Quantum States
• Emergence and Collapse of Quantum Mechanical Superposition: Orthogonality of Reversible Dynamics and Irreversible Diffusion

Cited by in corpus (10)

• An explanation of interference effects in the double slit experiment: Classical trajectories plus ballistic diffusion caused by zero-point fluctuations
• A classical explanation of quantization
• The Quantum as an Emergent System
• Emergence of Quantum Mechanics from a Sub-Quantum Statistical Mechanics
• Relational causality and classical probability: Grounding quantum phenomenology in a superclassical theory
• Classical Simulation of Double Slit Interference via Ballistic Diffusion
• Extreme beam attenuation in double-slit experiments: Quantum and subquantum scenarios
• "Systemic Nonlocality" from Changing Constraints on Sub-Quantum Kinematics
• Vacuum Landscaping: Cause of Nonlocal Influences without Signaling
• Quantum features derived from the classical model of a bouncer-walker coupled to a zero-point field