Bohmian trajectories and the ether: where does the analogy fail?

DOI10.1016/J.SHPSB.2005.09.005MaRDI QIDQ643044zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Louis Marchildon

Publication date 27 October 2011

Published in Studies in History and Philosophy of Science. Part B. Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0502049

zbMATH Keywords

informationetherinterpretationquantum mechanicsBohmian trajectories

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

General and philosophical questions in quantum theory (81P05)

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.

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Cited in

(1)

• Why is the transference theory of causation insufficient? The challenge of the Aharonov-Bohm effect

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