Pilot-wave hydrodynamics<sup>*</sup>

John W. M. Bush

doi:10.6052/1000-0992-21-011

Volume 51 Issue 1

Mar. 2021

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John W. M. Bush. Pilot-wave hydrodynamics*[J]. Advances in Mechanics, 2021, 51(1): 155-177. doi: 10.6052/1000-0992-21-011

Citation:

John W. M. Bush. Pilot-wave hydrodynamics^*[J]. Advances in Mechanics, 2021, 51(1): 155-177. doi: 10.6052/1000-0992-21-011

John W. M. Bush. Pilot-wave hydrodynamics*[J]. Advances in Mechanics, 2021, 51(1): 155-177. doi: 10.6052/1000-0992-21-011

Citation:

John W. M. Bush. Pilot-wave hydrodynamics^*[J]. Advances in Mechanics, 2021, 51(1): 155-177. doi: 10.6052/1000-0992-21-011

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Pilot-wave hydrodynamics^*

doi: 10.6052/1000-0992-21-011

John W. M. Bush^{**
,
,}

Department of Mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139

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Corresponding author: John W. M. Bush
Received Date: 2021-03-02
Publish Date: 2021-03-25

Abstract

Abstract

Yves Couder, Emmanuel Fort, and coworkers recently discovered that a millimetric droplet sustained on the surface of a vibrating fluid bath may self-propel through a resonant interaction with its own wave field. This article reviews experimental evidence indicating that the walking droplets exhibit certain features previously thought to be exclusive to the microscopic, quantum realm. It then reviews theoretical descriptions of this hydrodynamic pilot-wave system that yield insight into the origins of its quantumlike behavior. Quantization arises from the dynamic constraint imposed on the droplet by its pilot-wave field, and multimodal statistics appear to be a feature of chaotic pilot-wave dynamics. I attempt to assess the potential and limitations of this hydrodynamic system as a quantum analog. This fluid system is compared to quantum pilot-wave theories, shown to be markedly different from Bohmian mechanics and more closely related to de Broglie's original conception of quantum dynamics, his double-solution theory, and its relatively recent extensions through researchers in stochastic electrodynamics.
- walking drops,
- Faraday waves,
- quantum analogs

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References(132)

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