July 17, 2021 – It has recently been shown that the Bohm approach outlined in his 1952 work is not a new type of ‘mechanics’ but is unitarily equivalent, i.e. mathematically equivalent, to the Schrödinger approach, dealing directly with canonical coordinates (x, p) rather than through the intermediary ‘wave functions’. This fits in with the Stone-von Neumann theorem which explains why we already have the Schrödinger ‘picture,’ the Heisenberg ‘picture,’the interaction ‘picture,’ etc. We have called it the Dirac-Bohm ‘picture’ based on a non-commutative algebra: it is from this picture that Bohm’s ’52 approach emerges. The word ‘picture’ is here used in a technical sense, but can be taken as providing a different physical intuition with which to understand quantum phenomena.

Although many of the details are very technical, Hiley shows how the ideas provide a new way of looking at quantum phenomena, which not only confirms Bohm’s philosophical insights, but adds a new meaning to terms like the ‘Bohm momentum,’ the ‘osmotic momentum’ which, in turn, enables us to understand how the quantum potential fits in with the general notion of a gauge field. The reason why the quantum potential gives rise to such a ‘strange’ force is that we are looking at it in terms of an interaction force. However it gives rise to a different type of force which Einstein calls a ‘phoronometric’ force.  It is the type of potential that generates the Coriolis force which is responsible for the depressions arising in the Atlantic ocean which is responsible for such ‘wretched weather’ in the UK or the vortices that arise in the Bosporus. What is not generally realised is that the perihelion precession of Mercury arises from just such a force in general relativity. It is this mathematical structure that enables us to generate a new ‘dynamical geometry’ or better still a phoronometry providing new insights into the relation between the individual and the collective.

 Professor Basil Hiley, PhD, quantum physicist and professor emeritus of the University of London was a collaborator and colleague of David Bohm for over 30 years.

Length: 2 hours