Jean-Pierre Vigier

and the Stochastic Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics

(paperback, 291 pages; ISBN 0-9683689-5-6)

selected and edited by Stanley Jeffers, Bo Lehnert, Nils Abramson and Lev Chebotarev

A collection of facsimile reprints of papers on Quantum Mechanics authored and co-authored by Jean-Pierre Vigier, compiled and presented to him at a conference held to honour him on his 80^th birthday at University of California at Berkeley, August 2000. The book contains a preface by Stanley Jeffers and an introduction by Lev Chebotarev.

Foreword

About the Author

Table of contents  

Jean-Pierre Vigier, 1920-2004

At the age of 84, Professor Jean-Pierre Vigier passed away quietly in a Paris hospital on the afternoon of 2004 May 4. He was one of the last living links to that glorious generation of physicists that included Einstein, De Broglie, Shrödinger, Pauli and others. In fact, Einstein wanted the young Vigier to be his personal assistant. Given Vigier’s political positions and the onset of the Cold War, it was not possible for him to obtain a visa to go to Princeton to work with Einstein. Physics and politics have dominated Vigier’s life. His philosophical approach has been consistently materialist, and accordingly he sided with Einstein against Bohr in the great disputes over the interpretation of quantum mechanics. Such was the eminence of this physicist that four international conferences have been organized in his honor; and much like the physics giants in whose steps he followed, mention of just his last name was sufficient to uniquely identify him.  

Short Biography of Jean-Pierre Vigier by Stanley Jeffers (2000)

Foreword

Professor Jean-Pierre Vigier is a living link to that glorious generation of physicists that included Einstein, De Broglie, Shrödinger, Pauli and others. In fact, Einstein wanted the young Vigier to be his personal assistant. Given Vigier’s political positions and the onset of the Cold War, it was not possible for him to obtain a visa to go to Princeton to work with Einstein. Physics and politics have dominated Vigier’s life. His philosophical approach has been consistently materialist and accordingly he has sided with Einstein against Bohr in the great disputes over the interpretation of quantum mechanics.

This volume includes a review of the de Broglie-Bohm-Vigier approach to quantum mechanics written by Lev Chebotarev. Many of the papers referenced in this review and which were authored or co-authored by Professor Vigier are reproduced. This volume also includes an extensive listing of Professor Vigier’s publications.

This volume is a salute to Professor Vigier on the occasion of his 80th birthday. He has had a long and productive career which continues to this day. The Preface comprises reflections on his life compiled by one of us (S.J.) from a series of interviews with Professor Vigier in Paris during the summer of 1999.

We would like to acknowledge and thank the following for permission to re-print articles: Elsevier Science Publishers, ITPS Ltd., The American Physical Society, the Societa Italiana di Fisica and Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.

Stanley Jeffers, Department of Physics and Astronomy, York University, Toronto
Bo Lehnert, Professor Emeritus, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm
Nils Abramson, Professor Emeritus, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm
Lev Chebotarev, D.Sc., Ph.D., Professor of Physics

Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface

Introduction: The de Broglie-Bohm-Vigier Approach in Quantum Mechanics

Model of the Causal Interpretation of Quantum Theory in Terms of a Fluid with Irregular Fluctuations

Dirac’s Aether in Relativistic Quantum Mechanics

Superluminal Propagation of the Quantum Potential in the Causal Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics

Model of Quantum Statistics in Terms of a Fluid with Irregular Stochastic Fluctuations Propagating at the Velocity of Light: A Derivation of Nelson’s Equations

Relativistic Hydrodynamics of Rotating Fluid Masses

Causal Superluminal Interpretation of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Paradox

Action-at-a-Distance and Causality in the Stochastic Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics

De Broglie’s Wave Particle Duality in the Stochastic Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics: A Testable Physical Assumption

Nonlinear Klein-Gordon Equation Carrying a Nondispersive Solitonlike Singularity

Relativistic Wave Equations with Quantum Potential Nonlinearity

Causal Particle Trajectories and the Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics

New Theoretical Implications of Neutron Interferometric Double Resonance Experiments

Positive Probabilities and the Principle of Equivalence for Spin-Zero Particles in the Causal Stochastic Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics

Markov Process at the Velocity of Light: The Klein-Gordon Statistic

Description of Spin in the Causal Stochastic Interpretation of Proca-Maxwell Waves: Theory of Einstein’s "Ghost Waves"

Possible Test of the Reality of Superluminal Phase Waves and Particle Phase Space Motions in the Einstein-de Broglie-Bohm Causal Stochastic Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics

Possible Experimental Test of the Wave Packet Collapse

Testing Wave-Particle Dualism with Time-Dependent Neutron Interferometry

Energy Conservation and Complementary in Neutron Single-Crystal Interferometry

Time-Dependent Neutron Interferometry: Evidence in Favour of de Broglie Waves

Causal Stochastic Prediction of the Nonlinear Photoelectric Effects in Coherent Intersecting Laser Beams

Fundamental Problems of Quantum Physics

Bibliography of works by Jean-Pierre Vigier

About the Author

Jean-Pierre Vigier (born January 16, 1920) earned his Ph.D. in Mathematics from University of Geneva in 1946 and served briefly as a member of the French Atomic Commission together with Frederic Joliot-Curie. In 1948 he was appointed assistant to Louis de Broglie (Nobel Prize in 1929 for discovery of wave nature of particles), a position he held until the latter's retirement in 1962, although their collaboration lasted another 10 years. He is the author of more than 200 scientific papers, and has co-authored and edited a number of books and conference proceedings. He is a member of the editorial board of Physics Letters A, and remains one of the most vocal proponents of the Stochastic Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics.