the problematic extension to relativistic quantum field theory, where differences between the standard and the de Broglie-Bohm approach could translate into ...
Indeterminism versus determinism in quantum mechanics: where mathematics and physics failed to meet G. Moultaka LPTA, UMR 5207, Universit Montpellier 2, CNRS/IN2P3, Montpellier, France
October 15, 2009
Abstract
I review an old and partly forgotten story, hidden variables in quantum mechanics, taking as a prototype example the de Broglie-Bohm approach. I recall in what sense this approach differs from the standard quantum mechanics, how it avoids the main conceptual problems of the latter yet leading to the same empirical results, and how the celebrated von Neumann’s no-go theorem fails to forbid it. I then touch upon the problematic extension to relativistic quantum field theory, where differences between the standard and the de Broglie-Bohm approach could translate into observably distinctive phenomena. In particular, I argue how the notion of departure from ’quantum equilibrium’ could be a natural setting to discuss alternatives to the Higgs sector as a restorer of unitarity in electroweak interactions.
