Local Scale Invariance in Quantum Theory: Experimental Predictions

TL;DR

This paper investigates the experimental implications of a local scale invariant, non-Hermitian pilot-wave formulation of quantum theory, predicting subtle effects in interference experiments and spectral properties that could distinguish it from standard quantum mechanics.

Contribution

It introduces a novel local scale invariant quantum theory with specific experimental predictions, including trajectory-dependent probabilities and tiny spectral modifications.

Findings

Position probability density depends on slit crossing due to scale effects.

Spectral intensities are history-dependent, unlike in standard quantum theory.

Energy eigenvalues are modified by tiny imaginary corrections affecting spectral linewidths.

Abstract

We explore the experimental predictions of the local scale invariant, non-Hermitian pilot-wave (de Broglie-Bohm) formulation of quantum theory introduced in arXiv:2601.03567. We use Weyl's definition of gravitational radius of charge to obtain the fine-structure constant for non-integrable scale effects $\alpha_S$. The minuteness of $\alpha_S$ relative to $\alpha$ ($\alpha_S/\alpha \sim 10^{-21}$) effectively hides the effects in usual quantum experiments. In an Aharonov-Bohm double-slit experiment, the theory predicts that the position probability density depends on which slit the particle trajectory crosses, due to a non-integrable scale induced by the magnetic flux. This experimental prediction can be tested for an electrically neutral, heavy molecule with mass $m \sim 10^{-19} \text{g}$ at a $\sim 10^5 \text{ esu}$ flux regime. We analyse the Weyl-Einstein debate on the second-clock effect using the theory and show that spectral frequencies are history-independent. We thereby resolve Einstein's key objection against local scale invariance, and obtain two further experimental predictions. First, spectral intensities turn out to be history-dependent. Second, energy eigenvalues are modified by tiny imaginary corrections that modify spectral linewidths. We argue that the trajectory dependence of the probabilities renders our theory empirically distinguishable from other quantum formulations that do not use pilot-wave trajectories, or their mathematical equivalents, to derive experimental predictions.