Bohmian trajectories and the ether: Where does the analogy fail?
arXiv:quant-ph/0502049 · doi:10.1016/j.shpsb.2005.09.005
Abstract
Once considered essential to the explanation of electromagnetic phenomena, the ether was eventually discarded after the advent of special relativity. The lack of empirical signature of realist interpretative schemes of quantum mechanics, like Bohmian trajectories, has led some to conclude that, just like the ether, they can be dispensed with, replaced by the corresponding emergence of the concept of information. Although devices like Bohmian trajectories and the ether do present important analogies, I argue that there is also a crucial difference, related to distinct explanatory functions of quantum mechanics.
Various clarifications; references added; forthcoming in SHPMP
References in corpus (7)
- Quantum Mechanics as Quantum Information (and only a little more)
- Characterizing quantum theory in terms of information-theoretic constraints
- Solving the measurement problem: de Broglie-Bohm loses out to Everett
- Quantum mechanics is about quantum information
- Understanding Bohmian mechanics: A dialogue
- Why Should we Interpret Quantum Mechanics?
- Remote preparation of arbitrary ensembles and quantum bit commitment