Hydrodynamic Quantum Analogs: Classical Insight into Quantum Systems

2005年，伊夫·库德（Yves Couder）发现，一个毫米级液滴可以通过与自身引导波场的共振相互作用，沿着振动槽的表面自我推进。值得注意的是，行走液滴系统与20世纪20年代路易斯·德布罗意（Louis de Broglie）研究的量子导波理论非常相似，他设想微观粒子是产生推进导波场的振荡器。值得注意的是，行走的液滴表现出许多以前被认为是微观量子领域独有的特征。因此，它们为新兴的流体力学量子类似物领域提供了基础，该领域的目标是清楚地划分量子力学中能够和不能从经典角度理解的特征之间的界限。这个方法是渐进的：每一个新的流体力学量子模拟的建立都移动了这条线。具体来说，行走液滴系统提出了对许多最迷人的量子概念的经典重新解释，包括波粒二象性、波函数坍缩、态的叠加、轨道量子化、单粒子衍射和干涉、不确定性和非定域性。该奖项支持PI对流体力学量子类似物的综合实验和理论研究，这将自然地告知经典导波动力学作为现实量子理论基础的可行性。这项研究的智力价值在于，它将质疑现代物理学的哲学基础，并为其提供信息。该奖项支持PI对流体动力学量子类似物的研究，包括在实验室中发现新的模拟系统，其理论建模，以及与感兴趣的量子模拟物进行关键比较。实验研究将探索这一学科前沿的一类新的流体力学量子类似物，包括超辐射光子发射，粒子产生和湮灭，以及阿哈拉诺夫-玻姆效应。理论发展将朝着推进和探索一个广义的经典导波框架的方向发展，该框架抓住了行走液滴系统和德布罗意的导波理论的关键共同特征。除了为探索一个非常丰富的新动力系统提供一个平台之外，这个经典的理论框架可能最终在宏观和微观尺度上的波粒相互作用模型之间提供一个数学桥梁。该研究的实验和理论组成部分将特别关注阐明通过局部导波相互作用可能产生的明显非局部特征的方式，重点关注实现不可分离状态和与经典导波动力学纠缠的可能性。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

In 2005, Yves Couder discovered that a milimetric droplet may self-propel along the surface of a vibrating bath through a resonant interaction with its own guiding or ‘pilot’ wave field. Notably, the walking droplet system bears a strong resemblance to the quantum pilot-wave theory researched in the 1920s by Louis de Broglie, who envisaged microscopic particles as oscillators that generate a propulsive pilot-wave field. Remarkably, the walking droplets exhibit many features previously thought to be exclusive to the microscopic, quantum realm. Thus, they have provided the basis for the burgeoning field of hydrodynamic quantum analogs, the goal of which is to demarcate clearly the line between those features of quantum mechanics that can and cannot be understood from a classical perspective. The approach is progressive: the establishment of each new hydrodynamic quantum analog moves this line. Specifically, the walking-droplet system has suggested classical reinterpretations of a number of the most beguiling quantum notions, including wave-particle duality, wave function collapse, superposition of states, orbital quantization, single-particle diffraction and interference, uncertainty and nonlocality. The award supports the PI's integrated experimental and theoretical investigation of hydrodynamic quantum analogs, as will naturally inform the viability of classical pilot-wave dynamics as the basis for a realist quantum theory. The intellectual merit of this research is that it will thus both question and inform the philosophical foundations of modern physics.The award supports the PI's investigations of hydrodynamic quantum analogs, that include the discovery of new analog systems in the laboratory, the theoretical modeling thereof, and critical comparison with the quantum analog of interest. Experimental studies will explore a new class of hydrodynamic quantum analogs on the frontiers of the subject, including superradiant photon emission, particle creation and annihilation, and the Aharanov-Bohm effect. Theoretical developments will be directed towards advancing and exploring a generalized classical pilot-wave framework that captures the key common features of the walking-droplet system and de Broglie’s pilot-wave theory. In addition to providing a platform for exploring a remarkably rich new dynamical system, this classical theoretical framework might ultimately provide a mathematical bridge between models of wave-particle interactions on the macroscopic and microscopic scales. Both experimental and theoretical components of the research will give particular attention to elucidating the manner in which apparently non-local features may arise through local, pilot-wave interactions, with focus on the possibility of achieving non-separable states and entanglement with classical pilot-wave dynamics.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.