Physics – High Energy Physics – High Energy Physics - Theory
Scientific paper
2009-04-15
Int. J. Mod. Phys. A25:1477-1505, 2010
Physics
High Energy Physics
High Energy Physics - Theory
29 pages, 2 figures, version accepted for publication in Int. J. Mod. Phys. A
Scientific paper
States in quantum field theory (QFT) are represented by many-particle wave functions, such that a state describing n particles depends on n spacetime positions. Since a general state is a superposition of states with different numbers of particles, the wave function lives in the configuration space identified with a product of an infinite number of 4-dimensional Minkowski spacetimes. The squared absolute value of the wave function is interpreted as the probability density in the configuration space, from which the standard probabilistic predictions of QFT can be recovered. Such a formulation and probabilistic interpretation of QFT allows to interpret the wave function as a pilot wave that describes deterministic particle trajectories, which automatically includes a deterministic and continuous description of particle creation and destruction. In particular, when the conditional wave function associated with a quantum measurement ceases to depend on one of the spacetime coordinates, then the 4-velocity of the corresponding particle vanishes, describing a trajectory that stops at a particular point in spacetime. In a more general situation a dependence on this spacetime coordinate is negligibly small but not strictly zero, in which case the trajectory does not stop but the measuring apparatus still behaves as if this particle has been destroyed.
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