Bohm potential is real and its effects are measurable

Sergio A. Hojman,1, 2, 3, ∗ Felipe A. Asenjo,4, † Héctor M. Moya-Cessa,5, ‡ and Francisco Soto–Eguibar5, §

Departamento de Ciencias, Facultad de Artes Liberales,
1

Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago 7491169, Chile.

2
Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Santiago 7800003, Chile.
3
Centro de Recursos Educativos Avanzados, CREA, Santiago 7500018, Chile.
4
Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago 7491169, Chile.
5
Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica Óptica y Electrónica
Calle Luis Enrique Erro No. 1, Santa María Tonantzintla, Pue., 72840, Mexico.
(Dated: January 19, 2021)
We analyze Bohm’s potential effects both in the realms of Quantum Mechanics and Optics, as
arXiv:2101.06738v1 [quant-ph] 17 Jan 2021

well as in the study of other physical phenomena described in terms of classical and quantum wave
equations. We approach this subject by using theoretical arguments as well as experimental evidence.
We find that the effects produced by Bohm’s potential are both theoretically responsible for the
early success of Quantum Mechanics correctly describing atomic and nuclear phenomena and, more
recently, by confirming surprising accelerating behavior of free waves and particles experimentally,
for instance.

PACS numbers:
Keywords:

I. INTRODUCTION and quantum (wave–like) behavior is illustrated by con-

fronting the WKB (approximated) treatment of a quan-
A recently published article [1] deals with the reality tum problem (as compared) to the full quantum behavior
of Bohm’s potential. In the last section of the paper, of Schrödinger equation exact solutions or, equivalently,
the sentence “As a result, our analysis put forth that the to the difference between ray (eikonal) approximation
term, named as the quantum potential, must be equal to and wave optics treatments, for instance.
zero.” is, at least, misleading, if not outright wrong. One simple way in which the wave-like behavior pro-
We believe it is important to remark that this con- duces a striking effect that is impossible to get in the
clusion is erroneous, as we demonstrate in the following point-like (classical) limit, was found by Berry and Balazs
sections of our manuscript, by considering theoretical as in 1979 [16]. They showed that an accelerating Airy beam
well as experimental results. In order to do this, we dis- solves exactly the full quantum Schrödinger equation for
cuss some of the numerous findings published in articles a free (vanishing external potential) particle. This sur-
related to the study of the Bohm potential and its effects, prising result was later experimentally confirmed using
which may be traced back to almost a century ago in the light beams [18] in 2007 and its acceleration control [33]
seminal works of Madelung and of Bohm published in in 2011, and electron beams [19] in 2013. These phe-
1927 and 1952, respectively [2, 3]. nomena could not have taken place for vanishing Bohm
Numerous authors published theoretical as well as ex- potential, as we show below. Thus, the Bohm potential
perimental articles dealing with Bohm’s potential, touch- for Airy beams is non-vanishing.
ing upon different subjects including quantum mechanics, Similar to that solution, several others share this fea-
optics, field theory and general relativity [4–32]. Most of ture, producing a series of new and different phenomena.
the authors did not mention (or realized that) the fact Below we show the theoretical foundations for the exis-
that it was the non—vanishing character of Bohm’s po- tence of a non–vanishing Bohm potential, to later discuss
tential which produced the new (and sometimes counter– the physical effects of its presence, and how it produces
intuitive or surprising) phenomena. new solutions for different wave equations.
A crucial issue about the Bohm potential is that some
of the wave equation solutions have properties that de-
part from their classical (or point–like) counterparts. II. THE MADELUNG–BOHM FORMULATION
The new effects appear because waves are extended ob- OF QUANTUM MECHANICS
jects in contradistinction to the strictly local character
of particles. The difference between classical (point–like)
Let us consider the usual way to represent the one–
dimensional Schrödinger equations for a particle moving
in a real external potential V (x, t) in terms of complex
∗ Electronic address: sergio.hojman@uai.cl
wavefunctions ψ = ψ(x, t) and ψ ∗ = ψ ∗ (x, t),
† Electronic address: felipe.asenjo@uai.cl
‡ Electronic address: hmmc@inaoep.mx ~2 ′′
§ Electronic address: feguibar@inaoep.mx − ψ + V ψ − i~ψ̇ = 0 , (1)
2m
 2

and (and in many other examples), the Bohm potentials do

not vanish.
~2 ∗′′ Furthermore, for a given external potential V (x, t)
− ψ + V ψ ∗ + i~ψ̇ ∗ = 0 , (2)
2m the expressions for the Bohm potential VB (x, t) de-
pend on the the wavefunction amplitude A(x, t) =
where ′ ≡ ∂x and ˙ ≡ ∂t . The Madelung–Bohm [2, 3] ver- p
sion of quantum mechanics is equivalent to Schrödinger’s. (ψ(x, t)ψ ∗ (x, t)). Therefore, one quantum problem,
It is written in terms of the polar decomposition of say the free particle, which is solved by infinitely many
ψ = A exp (iS/~), where the amplitude A(x, t) and the different wavefunctions, does not have a unique Bohm
phase S(x, t) are real functions. The two real Schrödinger potential. As a matter of fact, in a recent article [25],
equations, written in terms of these two new functions, it is proved that not all external potentials V (x, t) are
are [2, 3] compatible with vanishing Bohm potentials. No wave-
functions solutions to the Schrödinger equations for the
1 2 Morse potential (or the Pöschl–Teller potential, for in-
(S ′ ) + VB + V + Ṡ = 0 , (3) stance) produce vanishing Bohm potentials.
2m
1
′ The necessary and sufficient condition for an external
A2 S ′ + A2 ˙ = 0 .


(4) potential to accommodate some (but not all) wavefunc-
m
tion solutions which have vanishing Bohm potential can
where the Bohm potential VB (x, t) is defined by be given in terms of the wavefunction potential func-
tion f (x, t), defined through relations (6). In a one-
~2 A′′ dimensional case, for any system with vanishing Bohm
VB ≡ − . (5)
2m A potential, the potential f function is given by
The first equation (3) is sometimes called the Quantum a(t)2 3
Hamilton–Jacobi (QHJ) equation for the (external) po- f (x, t) = x + a(t)b(t)x2 + b(t)2 x + c(t), (7)
3
tential V . The quantum modification consists in the ad-
dition of the Bohm potential to the classical Hamilton- for arbitrary functions a(t), b(t) and c(t). In this case,
Jacobi equation. Besides, the second equation (4) is the the external potential V = V (x, t) is given by
continuity (probability conservation) equation. Eqs. (3) ! !
1 mf˙2
Z x̃=x ˙ ˙′
and (4) can be straightforwardly written for a three- ff f¨
V = − +m − ′ dx̃ + µ̇ , (8)
dimensional space. 2 f ′2 x̃=0 f ′2 f
Interestingly, in one-dimension, the continuity equa-
tion (4) is identically solved by defining the arbitrary where µ(t) is an arbitrary function of time only, which
wavefunction potential function f = f (x, t), such that produces a force F = F (x, t) = − V ′ (x, t),
!′ !
A 2 1 mf˙2 f˙f˙′ f¨
f ′ = A2 , f˙ = − S ′ . (6) F = +m − ′ . (9)
m 2 f ′2 f ′2 f

The free particle, the attractive and repulsive harmonic

III. THEORETICAL ARGUMENTS AND oscillators belong to this family, for instance. It is im-
EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS portant to stress that this means that some (but not all)
of the solutions to the aforementioned problems produce
In this section we analyze different theoretical topics vanishing Bohm potentials. Besides, any wavefunction
and experimental findings that establish that Bohm po- potential function f that does not fulfill (7) can produce
tential may be different from zero. a non-vanishing Bohm potential for some external poten-
First of all, note that Planck’s constant ~ appears only tial. Details are given in Ref. [25].
in Bohm potential in the Madelung–Bohm formulation In a different scenario, there are other well-known
of Quantum Mechanics, which is, of course, equivalent to quantum solutions with non-vanishing Bohm potential.
the usual formulation. If Bohm potential vanishes iden- The usual solutions to the n-bound state of the harmonic
tically, ~ would disappear in the formulation of Quan- oscillator with mass m and angular frequency ω may be
tum Mechanics. Even though this observation could de- written for a wavefunction with an amplitude
bunk, by itself, the notion that in Quantum Mechanics
1  mω  14 r
mω

Bohm’s potential can vanish identically, we will proceed An (x, t) = √ ·
mωx2
e− 2~ Hn x ,
to deepen our analysis further. 2n n! π~ ~
There are many results, found independently, that (10)
point out to the fact that classical and quantum disper- and phase Sn (t) = − (n + 1/2) ~ωt, where Hn are the
sion relations are not equivalent [4–32]. It was recently Hermite polynomials. The Bohm potentials associated to
found out [24] that all of these results have a common these solutions are clearly different from zero and depend
feature: the classical and quantum dispersion relations on n. These solutions (with non–vanishing Bohm poten-
do not coincide because, in all of the cases considered tial) are crucial in the construction of the well known and
 3

successful “Shell Model” in nuclear physics. One cannot This result gives rise to the velocity of the Airy package
therefore, claim that solutions with non–vanishing Bohm vAiry = pAiry /m that may be computed from the momen-
potential are in some sense “unphysical”. Something sim- tum pAiry which is given by pAiry = ∂S(x, t)/∂x. There-
ilar happens with the well known solution of the quantum fore, there is a solution to the free Schrödinger equation
Coulomb problem which accurately predicts the atomic which has a constant acceleration given by (13) in spite
spectra and transition probabilities and gives rise to un- of being in the presence of a vanishing (external) force.
derstanding spectroscopy and the Periodic Table of Ele- Of course, the most amazing feature of the Berry–Balazs
ments. result is that the acceleration of free beams has been ex-
On the other hand, a free solution may also produce perimentally detected in 2007 using light beams [18] and
a non-vanishing Bohm potential. The well-known plane in 2013 using electron beams [19].
wave free particle solution ψ1 (x, t) = A exp(ikx − iωt), Finally, it has been shown in Ref. [26] that a non-
produces a vanishing Bohm potential, but there are other vanishing Bohm potentials may cancel some external po-
not so well known Airy function free particle solutions tentials, allowing to have quantum solutions for particles
which produce non–vanishing Bohm potentials. Let us that behave as free classical particles even though they
consider the Berry and Balazs solution [16] given by are interacting with an external potential.
β3 2
  
β
A(x, t) =Ai x − t , (11a)
~2/3 4m2
β3t β3 2
 
S(x, t) = x− t , (11b) IV. DISCUSSION
2m 6m2

with a non–zero constant β. This solution of Schrödinger We have clearly established by using both theoreti-
equation for free particles, with V = 0, has a non– cal and experimental arguments, and examples, that the
vanishing Bohm potential which depends both in space Bohm potential and its effects are real and measurable
x and time t given by (even tough unknown or misunderstood almost a century
after its definition).
β3 β3 2
 
VB (x, t) = − x− t . (12) The above discussed examples (and many others in
2m 4m2 the references) show that a non–vanishing Bohm poten-
tial has different kinds of effects in quantum mechanics,
This Bohm potential produces the constant acceleration
optics and wave propagation, in general. It is our belief
aAiry experienced by the Airy wave packet
that the recognition of the role that it plays in wave dy-
VB′ β3 namics can bring up new and interesting insights in these
aAiry = − = . (13) different fields.
m 2m2

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