Re:Have We Been Interpreting Quantum Mechanics Wrong This Wh...
by brute on Sunday December 14, 2014 @12:44PM
(#8748902)
> One of the main objections to the pilot-wave theory of QM is that it brings us back to the idea of a "luminiferous aether"
No it does not. We already have the Schrödinger field, without any notion of an aether. In fact the whole quantum field theory is all about fields and does not require it.
A related problem is that both De Broglie's and Bohm's pilot-wave models leave open the possibility of "empty waves" that carry no momentum or energy and are not related to any particles. Even if we assume that it is space-time through which they propagate, this gives us another piece of math that we need to just throw away, similar to the non-observed probabilities after state collapse, which runs counter to the goal of creating a formalism where the math corresponds to something real in the universe(s).