De Broglie–Bohm theory

De Broglie–Bohm theory is a deterministic formulation of quantum mechanics in which particles have definite positions and their motion is guided by a wave function.

Guiding equation: An equation specifying particle velocity from the wave function’s phase in Bohmian mechanics. It turns the wave function into a rule for particle motion.
Wave function: A mathematical object encoding a quantum system’s state and determining probabilities for measurement outcomes. Its evolution supplies the field that guides particle positions.
Louis de Broglie: French physicist who proposed that matter has wave-like properties and presented an early pilot-wave theory. His 1927 formulation anticipated the theory’s guiding-wave picture.
Copenhagen interpretation: A family of quantum interpretations that treats measurement outcomes as governed by quantum probabilities and measurement context. Unlike Bohmian mechanics, it does not generally assign particles definite trajectories between measurements.
Bohmian mechanics in chemistry: The use of Bohmian trajectories and wave functions to analyze molecular quantum dynamics. Trajectory calculations can visualize reaction pathways and nuclear motion.
Quantum potential: A term in Bohmian mechanics that encodes quantum effects in a particle’s equation of motion. It offers a force-based account of how the wave affects trajectories.
Schrödinger equation: The equation governing the time evolution of a nonrelativistic quantum wave function. Bohmian theory retains its standard evolution for the guiding wave.
David Bohm: American physicist who reformulated pilot-wave quantum mechanics in 1952. His papers gave the theory its modern mathematical form.
Many-worlds interpretation: An interpretation in which the universal wave function evolves without collapse and branches into effectively separate outcomes. It keeps unitary wave-function evolution but rejects Bohmian particle positions as additional ontology.
Bohmian mechanics in quantum chemistry: The application of Bohmian methods to electronic structure and molecular quantum calculations. Its particle paths offer an alternative way to examine electronic dynamics.

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