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What can bouncing oil droplets tell us about quantum mechanics?

Evans, Peter W. and Thebault, Karim P Y (2019) What can bouncing oil droplets tell us about quantum mechanics? [Preprint]

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Abstract

A recent series of experiments have demonstrated that a classical fluid mechanical system, constituted by an oil droplet bouncing on a vibrating fluid surface, can be induced to display a number of behaviours previously considered to be distinctly quantum. To explain this correspondence it has been suggested that the fluid mechanical system provides a single-particle classical model of de Broglie’s idiosyncratic ‘double solution’ pilot wave theory of quantum mechanics. In this paper we assess the epistemic function of the bouncing oil droplet experiments in relation to quantum mechanics. We find that the bouncing oil droplets are best conceived as an analogue illustration of quantum phenomena, rather than an analogue simulation, and, furthermore, that their epistemic value should be understood in terms of how-possibly explanation, rather than confirmation. Analogue illustration, unlike analogue simulation, is not a form of ‘material surrogacy’, in which source empirical phenomena in a system of one kind can be understood as ‘standing in for’ target phenomena in a system of another kind. Rather, analogue illustration leverages a correspondence between certain empirical phenomena displayed by a source system and aspects of the ontology of a target system. On the one hand, this limits the potential inferential power of analogue illustrations, but, on the other, it widens their potential inferential scope. In particular, through analogue illustration we can learn, in the sense of gaining how-possibly understanding, about the putative ontology of a target system via an experiment. As such, the potential scientific value of these extraordinary experiments is undoubtedly a significant one.


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Item Type: Preprint
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Evans, Peter W.p.evans@uq.edu.au0000-0003-0214-4748
Thebault, Karim P Ykarim.thebault@gmail.com
Additional Information: Forthcoming in the European Journal for Philosophy of Science
Keywords: analogue simulation, analogue representation, explanation
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Physics > Classical Physics
General Issues > Confirmation/Induction
General Issues > Experimentation
General Issues > Explanation
General Issues > Models and Idealization
Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
General Issues > Theory/Observation
Depositing User: Dr Karim Thebault
Date Deposited: 17 Jun 2020 01:40
Last Modified: 17 Jun 2020 01:40
Item ID: 17336
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Physics > Classical Physics
General Issues > Confirmation/Induction
General Issues > Experimentation
General Issues > Explanation
General Issues > Models and Idealization
Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
General Issues > Theory/Observation
Date: 28 October 2019
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/17336

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