Apparent energy-speed relationship poses no challenge to Bohmian mechanics

TL;DR

The paper argues that recent claims challenging Bohmian mechanics based on energy-speed measurements in quantum tunneling are incorrect, showing that the experiment's results are consistent with Bohmian predictions and that the measured speeds are fictitious.

Contribution

It clarifies that the apparent energy-speed relationship does not pose a challenge to Bohmian mechanics by providing a proper pilot-wave analysis.

Findings

Experiment's measured speeds are fictitious

Bohmian mechanics predicts the same particle distributions as quantum theory

The interpretation claiming challenge is incorrect

Abstract

A recent article claims to measure the speed of quantum particles in the classically forbidden regime where the energy of the particles is lower than the local potential, and further claims that the results of this experiment challenge Bohmian mechanics. But this interpretation of the experiment is incorrect (and dubious even in the context of ordinary quantum mechanics). A proper analysis of the system from a pilot-wave perspective shows that it predicts the same distribution of particle positions (and so the same experimental results) as ordinary quantum theory. The speed measured by the experiment in this regime is fictitious.