Can Bohmian Mechanics Be Made Background Independent?

Abstract

The paper presents an inquiry into the question regarding the compatibility of Bohmian mechanics, intended as a non-local theory of moving point-like particles, with background independence. This issue is worth being investigated because, if the Bohmian framework has to be of some help in developing new physics, it has to be compatible with the most well-established traits of modern physics, background independence being one of such traits. The paper highlights the fact that the notion of background independence in the context of spacetime physics is slippery and interpretation-laden. It is then suggested that the best-matching framework developed by Julian Barbour might provide a robust enough meaning of background independence. The structure of Bohmian dynamics is evaluated against this framework, reaching some intermediate results that speak in favor of the fact that Bohmian mechanics can be made background independent.

24 pages, forthcoming in Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics

References in corpus (4)

• Some remarks on the notions of general covariance and background independence
• On Galilean and Lorentz invariance in pilot-wave dynamics
• Shape dynamics and Mach's principles: Gravity from conformal geometrodynamics
• A Definition of Background Independence

Cited by in corpus (7)

• On the Conceptual Issues Surrounding the Notion of Relational Bohmian Dynamics
• Relationalism about mechanics based on a minimalist ontology of matter
• How (Not) to Understand Weak Measurements of Velocities
• From the measurement problem to the primitive ontology programme
• Unexpected Quantum Indeterminacy
• A proposal for a metaphysics of self-subsisting structures. II. Quantum physics
• General Relativity and Background Independence