Ebook: Bohmian Mechanics and Quantum Theory: An Appraisal

We are often told that quantum phenomena demand radical revisions of our scientific world view and that no physical theory describing well defined objects, such as particles described by their positions, evolving in a well defined way, let alone deterministically, can account for such phenomena. The great majority of physicists continue to subscribe to this view, despite the fact that just such a deterministic theory, accounting for all of the phe­ nomena of nonrelativistic quantum mechanics, was proposed by David Bohm more than four decades ago and has arguably been around almost since the inception of quantum mechanics itself. Our purpose in asking colleagues to write the essays for this volume has not been to produce a Festschrift in honor of David Bohm (worthy an undertaking as that would have been) or to gather together a collection of papers simply stating uncritically Bohm's views on quantum mechanics. The central theme around which the essays in this volume are arranged is David Bohm's version of quantum mechanics. It has by now become fairly standard practice to refer to his theory as Bohmian mechanics and to the larger conceptual framework within which this is located as the causal quantum theory program. While it is true that one can have reservations about the appropriateness of these specific labels, both do elicit distinc­ tive images characteristic of the key concepts of these approaches and such terminology does serve effectively to contrast this class of theories with more standard formulations of quantum theory.

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This is not a Festschrift in honor of David Bohm or a collection of papers simply stating uncritically a particular interpretation of quantum mechanics. Rather, it is a contribution to the serious and ongoing critical analysis, extension and application of the central ideas of David Bohm's version of quantum mechanics to test them for consistency, empirical adequacy and fruitfulness in generating new avenues of research.
The papers in this volume are grouped around four main topics: the essentials of Bohmian mechanics; detailed applications and extensions of these basics; historical and conceptual analyses of the program; comparisons and contrasts with other formulations of quantum mechanics.
This book will be of interest to physicists and to philosophers and historians of science - really to anyone concerned with foundational issues in quantum mechanics.

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This is not a Festschrift in honor of David Bohm or a collection of papers simply stating uncritically a particular interpretation of quantum mechanics. Rather, it is a contribution to the serious and ongoing critical analysis, extension and application of the central ideas of David Bohm's version of quantum mechanics to test them for consistency, empirical adequacy and fruitfulness in generating new avenues of research.
The papers in this volume are grouped around four main topics: the essentials of Bohmian mechanics; detailed applications and extensions of these basics; historical and conceptual analyses of the program; comparisons and contrasts with other formulations of quantum mechanics.
This book will be of interest to physicists and to philosophers and historians of science - really to anyone concerned with foundational issues in quantum mechanics.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-viii
The Causal Quantum Theory Program....Pages 1-19
Bohmian Mechanics as the Foundation of Quantum Mechanics....Pages 21-44
Pilot-Wave Theory of Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology....Pages 45-66
Contextuality in Bohmian Mechanics....Pages 67-76
Global Existence and Uniqueness of Bohmian Trajectories....Pages 77-86
Scattering Theory from a Bohmian Perspective....Pages 87-97
Is Quantum Mechanics Universal?....Pages 99-110
The “Tunneling-Time Problem” for Electrons....Pages 111-129
Local Bohmian Mechanics....Pages 131-140
About Position Measurements Which do Not Show the Bohmian Particle Position....Pages 141-154
An Ontological Interpretation of Boson Fields....Pages 155-167
De Broglie, Bohm and the Boson....Pages 169-189
A Realistic Formulation of Quantum Field Theory....Pages 191-196
Attaching Theories of Consciousness to Bohmian Quantum Mechanics....Pages 197-210
Bohm and the “Inevitability” of Acausality....Pages 211-230
On the Interpretation of Bohmian Mechanics....Pages 231-250
Tension in Bohm’s Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics....Pages 251-264
An Epistemological Critique of Bohmian Mechanics....Pages 265-276
Elementary Quantum Metaphysics....Pages 277-284
Space-Time in the Quantum World....Pages 285-307
Cause and Effect in the Pilot-Wave Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics....Pages 309-319
Is the Bohm Theory Local?....Pages 321-330
Modal Interpretations and Bohmian Mechanics....Pages 331-341
Remarks on Consistent Histories and Bohmian Mechanics....Pages 343-352
Bohm’s Theory Versus Dynamical Reduction....Pages 353-377
Back Matter....Pages 379-408

---

This is not a Festschrift in honor of David Bohm or a collection of papers simply stating uncritically a particular interpretation of quantum mechanics. Rather, it is a contribution to the serious and ongoing critical analysis, extension and application of the central ideas of David Bohm's version of quantum mechanics to test them for consistency, empirical adequacy and fruitfulness in generating new avenues of research.
The papers in this volume are grouped around four main topics: the essentials of Bohmian mechanics; detailed applications and extensions of these basics; historical and conceptual analyses of the program; comparisons and contrasts with other formulations of quantum mechanics.
This book will be of interest to physicists and to philosophers and historians of science - really to anyone concerned with foundational issues in quantum mechanics.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-viii
The Causal Quantum Theory Program....Pages 1-19
Bohmian Mechanics as the Foundation of Quantum Mechanics....Pages 21-44
Pilot-Wave Theory of Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology....Pages 45-66
Contextuality in Bohmian Mechanics....Pages 67-76
Global Existence and Uniqueness of Bohmian Trajectories....Pages 77-86
Scattering Theory from a Bohmian Perspective....Pages 87-97
Is Quantum Mechanics Universal?....Pages 99-110
The “Tunneling-Time Problem” for Electrons....Pages 111-129
Local Bohmian Mechanics....Pages 131-140
About Position Measurements Which do Not Show the Bohmian Particle Position....Pages 141-154
An Ontological Interpretation of Boson Fields....Pages 155-167
De Broglie, Bohm and the Boson....Pages 169-189
A Realistic Formulation of Quantum Field Theory....Pages 191-196
Attaching Theories of Consciousness to Bohmian Quantum Mechanics....Pages 197-210
Bohm and the “Inevitability” of Acausality....Pages 211-230
On the Interpretation of Bohmian Mechanics....Pages 231-250
Tension in Bohm’s Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics....Pages 251-264
An Epistemological Critique of Bohmian Mechanics....Pages 265-276
Elementary Quantum Metaphysics....Pages 277-284
Space-Time in the Quantum World....Pages 285-307
Cause and Effect in the Pilot-Wave Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics....Pages 309-319
Is the Bohm Theory Local?....Pages 321-330
Modal Interpretations and Bohmian Mechanics....Pages 331-341
Remarks on Consistent Histories and Bohmian Mechanics....Pages 343-352
Bohm’s Theory Versus Dynamical Reduction....Pages 353-377
Back Matter....Pages 379-408
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