Details

An unnormalized wavefunction of the Schrödinger equation

with mass is separable in spherical polar coordinates, such that

,

where is a spherical harmonic and a spherical Bessel function [3]. The boundary condition that at is fulfilled when is the zero of the spherical Bessel function . The quantized energy levels are then given by

,

where is the central potential energy with

.

In this Demonstration, the total wavefunction is defined by a superposition of two stationary eigenstates:

with .

For simplicity, set the mass and equal to 1 (atomic units [4]).

In this case, the wavefunction for the quantum particle in an infinite spherical well in spherical polar coordinates [1] reads

.

The velocity field with the position can be calculated from the current

or from the gradient of the total phase function from the wavefunction in the eikonal form (often called polar form) :

.

From the total phase function the gradient , with the partial derivative and so on, is given by:

,

and

.

For the initial point the velocity becomes indeterminate, and for the velocity field becomes autonomous, with

,

or in Cartesian coordinates,

,

and the atom orbits the axis along a circle of constant radius and with a constant angular speed depending on the azimuthal quantum number (here, , which is a multiple of

or .

For greater accuracy, increase PlotPoints, AccuracyGoal, PrecisionGoal and MaxSteps.

Due to the computational limitations, here only two superposed states are investigated. For this case, there is no chaotic behavior in the quantum motion [5, 6].

References

[1] Bohmian-Mechanics.net. (Oct 18, 2019)

[2] S. Goldstein, "Bohmian Mechanics," The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Summer 2017 Edition (E. N. Zalta, ed.), (Oct 24, 2019)plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2017/entries/qm-bohm.

[3] O. F. de Alcantara Bonfim, J. Florencio and F. C. Sá Barreto, "Chaotic Bohm’s Trajectories in a Quantum Circular Billiard," Physics Letters A, 277(3), 2000 pp. 129–134. doi:10.1016/S0375-9601(00)00705-2.

[4] Wikipedia. "Hartree Atomic Units." (Oct 18, 2019) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_units.

[5] R. H. Parmenter and R. W. Valentine, "Deterministic Chaos and the Causal Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics," Physics Letters A, 201(1), 1995 pp. 1–8. doi:10.1016/0375-9601(95)00190-E.

[6] R. H. Parmenter and R. W. Valentine, "Erratum: Deterministic Chaos and the Causal Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics (Physics Letters A 210 (1995) 1)," Physics Letters A, 213(5–6), 1996 p. 319. doi:10.1016/0375-9601(96)00096-5.