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Bohmian Trajectories Within Hilbert Space Based Quantum Mechanics. Solution of the Measurement Problem

Quantum Physics 2025-12-09 v1

Abstract

de Broglie-Bohm theory (dBBT), treating quantum particles as point objects moving along well defined (Bohmian) trajectories, offers an appealing solution of the measurement problem in quantum mechanics; it has, however, problems relating to spin, relativity and lack of proper integration with the Hilbert space based framework. In this work, we present a consistent formalism which has the traditional state-observable framework integrated with the desirable features of dBBT. We adopt ensemble interpretation for the Schrodinger wave function ψ\psi. Given a Schrodinger wave function ψ\psi, we use its value ψ0\psi_0 at some fixed time (say, t=0t = 0) to define the probability measure ψ02dx|\psi_0|^2 {\rm d}x on the system configuration space MM (=Rn=\mathbb{R}^n). On the resulting probability space M0\mathcal{M}_0, we introduce a stochastic process ξ(t)\xi(t) corresponding to the Heisenberg position operator XH(t)X_H(t) such that, in the Heisenberg state ψh|\psi_h\rangle corresponding to ψ0\psi_0, the expectation value of XH(t)X_H(t) equals that of ξ(t)\xi(t) in M0\mathcal{M}_0. This condition leads to the de Broglie-Bohm guidance equation for the sample paths of the process ξ(t)\xi(t) which are, therefore, Bohmian trajectories supposedly representing time-evolutions of individual members of the ψ0\psi_0-ensemble. Stochastic processes and Bohmian trajectories corresponding to observables with discrete eigenvalues (in particular spin) are treated by extending the configuration space to the spectral space of the commutative algebra obtained by adding appropriate discrete observables to the position observables. Pauli's equation is treated as an example. A straightforward derivation of von Neumann's projection rule employing the Schrodinger-Bohm evolution of individual systems along their Bohmian trajectories is given. Some comments on the potential application of the formalism developed here to quantum mechanics of the universe are included.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2512.07007,
  title  = {Bohmian Trajectories Within Hilbert Space Based Quantum Mechanics. Solution of the Measurement Problem},
  author = {Tulsi Dass},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2512.07007},
  year   = {2025}
}

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33 pages