Conservative diffusions: a constructive approach to Nelson's stochastic mechanics

In Nelson's stochastic mechanics, quantum phenomena are described in terms of diffusions instead of wave functions; this thesis is a study of that description. Concern here is with the possibility of describing, as opposed to explaining, quantum phenomena in terms of diffusions. In this direction, the following questions arise: ''Do the diffusion of stochastic mechanics - which are formally given by stochastic differential equations with extremely singular coefficients - really exist.'' Given that they exist, one can ask, ''Do these diffusions have physically reasonable paths to study the behavior of physical systems.'' These are the questions treated in this thesis. In Chapter 1, stochastic mechanics and diffusion theory are reviewed, using the Guerra-Morato variational principle to establish the connection with the Schroedinger equation. Chapter II settles the first of the questions raised above. Using PDE methods, the diffusions of stochastic mechanics are constructed. The result is sufficiently general to be of independent mathematical interest. In Chapter III, potential scattering in stochastic mechanics is treated and direct probabilistic methods of studying quantum scattering problems are discussed. The results provide a solid YES in answer to the second question raised above