Details

The initial wavefunction in the eikonal form,

,

obeys the free-particle Schrödinger equation in the direction:

,

here with . The initial wavefunction is a linear combination of two Gaussian packets with initial spatial half-widths and group velocities . The measured intensity at any time is given by

.

According to the theory proposed in [1], the measured intensity takes the form

,

with and , where is the coherence time, a measurement of how fast the system becomes classical. For simplicity, is called the decoherence coupling factor. In this context, classical means that the probability density becomes

.

If (the quantum limit), there is full coherence with and there is no difference between the general Bohm view and the quantum potential approach. The trajectories run to the local maxima of the squared wavefunction and therefore correspond to the bright fringes of the diffraction pattern. The quantum particle passes through slit one or slit two and never crosses the axis of symmetry.

For unit mass , the general equation of motion is given by the acceleration term that is the second derivative of the position with respect to time :

,

where is integrated numerically for various initial positions and velocities. The initial positions are linearly distributed around the peaks of the wave. The initial velocities are taken from the gradient of the phase function for . The quantum potential , from which the trajectories are calculated, is given by:

,

with

.

For the coupling function , the effect of the quantum potential vanishes, and there is no dependence of the trajectories on the phase functions and . This leads to the crossing of trajectories.

The results become more accurate if you increase AccuracyGoal, PrecisionGoal and MaxSteps.

For more detailed information about Bohmian mechanics, see [5, 6], and for an animated example describing a similar situation, see [7].

References

[1] P. Ghose, "Continuous Quantum-Classical Transitions and Measurement: A Relook." arxiv.org/abs/1705.09149v1.

[2] P. Ghose and K. von Bloh, "Continuous Transitions between Quantum and Classical Motions." arxiv.org/abs/1608.07963.

[3] A. S. Sanz and F. Borondo, "A Quantum Trajectory Description of Decoherence," The European Physical Journal D, 44(2), 2007 pp. 319–326. doi:10.1140/epjd/e2007-00191-8.

[4] B.-G. Englert, M. O. Scully, G. Süssman and H. Walther, "Surrealistic Bohm Trajectories," Zeitschrift für Naturforschung, 47(12), 1992 pp. 1175–1186. doi:10.1515/zna-1992-1201.

[5] "Bohmian-Mechanics.net." (Jun 29, 2017) www.bohmian-mechanics.net/index.html.

[6] S. Goldstein. "Bohmian Mechanics." The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (Jun 29, 2017)plato.stanford.edu/entries/qm-bohm.

[7] P. Ghose and K. von Bloh. Decoherence and Crossing Trajectories in the de Broglie–Bohm Approach [Video]. (Jul 3, 2017), www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONw5SHIRe-0.