Stochastic-Quantum comparison through a frictionless stochastic experiment

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1972

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Abstract

A stochastic single-slit experiment is used to exhibit a counterexample to the proposal by several Investigators that quantum phenomena is equivalent to a frictionless stochastic process. The connection between Brownian motion and quantum mechanics is made by relating the diffusion coefficient and mean drift velocity of the Smoluchowski equation to h/2m and h/m[lambda] respectively. This is the connection usually made in relating quantum mechanics to Brownian motion. The omission of the damping term leads to an effective wavelength for the stochastic test problem which is changing in time and implies that is not the ideal stochastic test model to consider. The stochastic single-slit experiment is scaled to conform with a physical single-slit experiment which is known to agree with quantum calculations. An Intensity distribution is developed by using Langevin's equation without damping to calculate (with a computer) the position of particles acted on by a random force. The intensity distribution is then compared to the diffraction pattern produced by the physical experiment and no similarity is noted.

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