Forward-time equivalent of a retrocausal diffusion hidden-variable model for quantum mechanics

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Authors: William S. DeWitt, Benjamin H. Feintzeig
Cited by: 0
References: 24

Abstract

A recently proposed stochastic hidden variable model for quantum mechanics has been claimed to involve "retrocausality" due to the appearance of equations of motion with future-time boundary conditions. We formulate an equivalent system of forward-time equations of motion that gives rise to the same trajectories as solutions, but involves only initial-time boundary conditions. The forward-time dynamics involves a guidance term for the dynamical variables, determined by the phase-space distribution corresponding to a quantum wavefunction. We show, however, that this particular guidance term can be recovered as the mean-field limit of averaged pairwise interactions among an ensemble of finitely many particles.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Quantum Mechanics and Applications Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories Philosophy and History of Science

Publication details

Journal / source
Physical Review A
Volume
113
Issue
2
Publication date
16 January 2026
Language
EN