Communication: Quantum mechanics without wavefunctions

Jeremy Schiff; Bill Poirier

doi:10.1063/1.3680558

Communication: Quantum mechanics without wavefunctions

Jeremy Schiff, Bill Poirier

Chemistry and Biochemistry

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

52 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present a self-contained formulation of spin-free non-relativistic quantum mechanics that makes no use of wavefunctions or complex amplitudes of any kind. Quantum states are represented as ensembles of real-valued quantum trajectories, obtained by extremizing an action and satisfying energy conservation. The theory applies for arbitrary configuration spaces and system dimensionalities. Various beneficial ramifications-theoretical, computational, and interpretational-are discussed.

Original language	English
Article number	031102
Journal	Journal of Chemical Physics
Volume	136
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3680558
State	Published - Jan 21 2012

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abstract = "We present a self-contained formulation of spin-free non-relativistic quantum mechanics that makes no use of wavefunctions or complex amplitudes of any kind. Quantum states are represented as ensembles of real-valued quantum trajectories, obtained by extremizing an action and satisfying energy conservation. The theory applies for arbitrary configuration spaces and system dimensionalities. Various beneficial ramifications-theoretical, computational, and interpretational-are discussed.",

author = "Jeremy Schiff and Bill Poirier",

note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by grants from the Robert A. Welch Foundation (D-1523) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) (CHE-0741321). Travel support from the US-Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF-2008023) is also acknowledged.",

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Communication: Quantum mechanics without wavefunctions

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