Published March 1994 | Version v1
Journal article

Inequivalence between the Schroedinger equation and the Madelung hydrodynamic equations

  • 1. Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 (United States)

Description

By differentiating the Schroedinger equation and separating the real amd imaginary parts, one obtains the Madelung hydrodynamic equations, which have inspired numerous classical interpretations of quantum mechanics. Such interpretations frequently assume that these equations are equivalent to the Schroedinger equation, and thus provide an alternative basis for quantum mechanics. This paper proves that this is incorrect: to recover the Schroedinger equation, one must add by hand a quantization condition, as in the old quantum theory. The implications for various alternative interpretations of quantum mechanics are discussed

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Physical Review. A
Journal Volume
49
Journal Issue
3
Journal Page Range
p. 1613-1617.
ISSN
1050-2947
CODEN
PLRAAN