On a Reformulation of Bohmian Mechanics Including Open Dissipative Systems

Abstract

Abstract In Bohmian mechanics it is assumed that quantum objects are particles that follow real physical paths. These Bohmian trajectories are obtained by integrating the velocity field that occurs in the continuity equation. However, in the course of deriving these trajectories, the independent position variable x, appearing in the velocity field, is arbtirarily replaced by the time-dependent trajectory q(t). We show under which restrictions such a replacement can be justified, leading to a totally different interpretation of the Bohmian trajectories. They are not real paths of physical particles but borders of regions of constant probability, so-called quantiles, and therefore must be seen in the context of descriptive statistics. Thus they provide a tool complementary to the conventional statistical formulation of quantum mechanics. A possible extension to include open dissipative systems is also discussed, showing that the inclusion of an environment does not change our interpretation of the Bohmian trajectories.