Emergence and Collapse of Quantum Mechanical Superposition: Orthogonality of Reversible Dynamics and Irreversible Diffusion

TL;DR

This paper unifies the understanding of quantum superposition emergence and collapse using classical non-equilibrium thermodynamics, highlighting the role of orthogonality between reversible and irreversible dynamics in quantum behavior.

Contribution

It introduces a framework where quantum superposition phenomena are explained through classical thermodynamics, emphasizing the importance of orthogonality in dynamics.

Findings

Superposition emergence and collapse depend on orthogonality of dynamics.

Quantum wave packet decay results from sub-quantum diffusion.

Classical physics can derive quantum trajectories and Born's rule.

Abstract

Based on the modelling of quantum systems with the aid of (classical) non-equilibrium thermodynamics, both the emergence and the collapse of the superposition principle are understood within one and the same framework. Both are shown to depend in crucial ways on whether or not an average orthogonality is maintained between reversible Schroedinger dynamics and irreversible processes of diffusion. Moreover, said orthogonality is already in full operation when dealing with a single free Gaussian wave packet. In an application, the quantum mechanical "decay of the wave packet" is shown to simply result from sub-quantum diffusion with a specific diffusivity varying in time due to a particle's changing thermal environment. The exact quantum mechanical trajectory distributions and the velocity field of the Gaussian wave packet, as well as Born's rule, are thus all derived solely from classical physics.