Enhancing wave–particle duality

To enhance the consistency between the quantum descriptions of waves and particles, we quantise mechanical point particles in this paper in the same physically-motivated way as we previously quantised light in quantum electrodynamics (Bennett et al 2016 Eur. J. Phys. 37 014001). To identify the rele...

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Main Authors: Arwa Bukhari, Daniel R E Hodgson, Sara Kanzi, Robert Purdy, Almut Beige
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2025-01-01
Series:New Journal of Physics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/adf506
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author Arwa Bukhari
Daniel R E Hodgson
Sara Kanzi
Robert Purdy
Almut Beige
author_facet Arwa Bukhari
Daniel R E Hodgson
Sara Kanzi
Robert Purdy
Almut Beige
author_sort Arwa Bukhari
collection DOAJ
description To enhance the consistency between the quantum descriptions of waves and particles, we quantise mechanical point particles in this paper in the same physically-motivated way as we previously quantised light in quantum electrodynamics (Bennett et al 2016 Eur. J. Phys. 37 014001). To identify the relevant Hilbert space, we notice that mechanical particles can occupy any position x while moving at any velocity v . Afterwards, we promote the classical states ( x ,  v ) to pairwise orthogonal quantum states $|x,v\rangle$ and demand that these evolve according to Newton’s equations of motion. The resulting quantum theory is mass-independent, when Newton’s equations of motion are mass-independent, as one would expect. The basic formulation of quantum mechanics emerges from quantum mechanics in configuration space as a semi-classical approximation when a fixed mass is imposed and several other adjustments are made.
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spelling doaj-art-9a64dd255d7540da880a95bb0a287f3b2025-08-20T02:57:52ZengIOP PublishingNew Journal of Physics1367-26302025-01-0127808450110.1088/1367-2630/adf506Enhancing wave–particle dualityArwa Bukhari0Daniel R E Hodgson1https://orcid.org/0009-0005-9799-9440Sara Kanzi2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7181-2813Robert Purdy3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1853-5252Almut Beige4https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7230-4220School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds , Leeds LS2 9JT, United Kingdom; School of Physics, Umm Al-Qura University , Makkah, Saudi ArabiaSchool of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds , Leeds LS2 9JT, United KingdomFaculty of Engineering, Final International University , North Cyprus Via Mersin 10, Kyrenia 99370, TurkeySchool of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds , Leeds LS2 9JT, United KingdomSchool of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds , Leeds LS2 9JT, United KingdomTo enhance the consistency between the quantum descriptions of waves and particles, we quantise mechanical point particles in this paper in the same physically-motivated way as we previously quantised light in quantum electrodynamics (Bennett et al 2016 Eur. J. Phys. 37 014001). To identify the relevant Hilbert space, we notice that mechanical particles can occupy any position x while moving at any velocity v . Afterwards, we promote the classical states ( x ,  v ) to pairwise orthogonal quantum states $|x,v\rangle$ and demand that these evolve according to Newton’s equations of motion. The resulting quantum theory is mass-independent, when Newton’s equations of motion are mass-independent, as one would expect. The basic formulation of quantum mechanics emerges from quantum mechanics in configuration space as a semi-classical approximation when a fixed mass is imposed and several other adjustments are made.https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/adf506quantum mechanicsNewton’s mechanicswave–particle duality
spellingShingle Arwa Bukhari
Daniel R E Hodgson
Sara Kanzi
Robert Purdy
Almut Beige
Enhancing wave–particle duality
New Journal of Physics
quantum mechanics
Newton’s mechanics
wave–particle duality
title Enhancing wave–particle duality
title_full Enhancing wave–particle duality
title_fullStr Enhancing wave–particle duality
title_full_unstemmed Enhancing wave–particle duality
title_short Enhancing wave–particle duality
title_sort enhancing wave particle duality
topic quantum mechanics
Newton’s mechanics
wave–particle duality
url https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/adf506
work_keys_str_mv AT arwabukhari enhancingwaveparticleduality
AT danielrehodgson enhancingwaveparticleduality
AT sarakanzi enhancingwaveparticleduality
AT robertpurdy enhancingwaveparticleduality
AT almutbeige enhancingwaveparticleduality