Bohmian Mechanics Revisited

E. Deotto, G. C. Ghirardi

Published 1997-04-10, updated 2002-04-03Version 5

We consider the problem of whether there are deterministic theories describing the evolution of an individual physical system in terms of the definite trajectories of its constituent particles and which stay in the same relation to Quantum Mechanics as Bohmian Mechanics but which differ from the latter for what concerns the trajectories followed by the particles. Obviously, one has to impose on the hypothetical alternative theory precise physical requirements. We analyse various such constraints and we show step by step how to meet them. This way of attacking the problem allows to recall and focus on some relevant features of Bohm's theory. One of the central requirements we impose on the models we are going to analyse has to do with their transformation properties under the transformations of the extended Galilei group. In a context like the one we are interested in one can put forward various requests that we refer to as physical and genuine covariance and invariance. Other fundamental requests are that the theory allows the description of isolated physical systems as well as that it leads to a solution (in the same sense as Bohmian Mechanics) of the measurement problem. We show that there are infinitely many inequivalent (from the point of view of the trajectories) bohmian-like theories reproducing the predictions of Quantum Mechanics.