This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
J. von Neumann,The Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics (Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1955).
D. Bohm and J. Bub,Rev. Mod. Phys. 38, 453 (1966).
C. Papaliolios.Phys. Rev. Lett. 18, 622 (1967).
N. Bohr,Atomic Physics and Human Knowledge (Wiley, New York, 1958). See also D. L. Schumacher, inThe Nature of Time, T. Gold, ed. (Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, 1967).
D. Bohm,The Special Theory of Relativity (Benjamin, New York, 1965). See Appendix, “Physics and Perception.”
D. Bohm,Proceedings, International Conference on Elementary Particles, Kyoto, Japan, 1965.
G. Birkhoff and J. von Neuman,Ann. Math. 37, 823 (1936).
Y. Aharonov and D. Bohm,Phys. Rev. 108, 1070 (1957).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Editorial note: We are much indebted to Professor Jeffrey Bub for bringing the existence of this paper (written around 1968 or 1969) to our attention. Most of the first part, up to Sec. 4.B, has already appeared, in more or less the same form and under the same title as above, inQuantum Theory and Beyond, T. Bastin, ed. (Cambridge University Press, 1971). It is here reproduced, by kind permission of the original publisher and Mrs. Sarah Bohm, as the first part of the present paper, whose second and major part has, to all appearances, not been published before. Apropos of the history of Bohm's paper. Professor Basil Hiley, a long-time collaborator of David Bohm, has kindly supplied the following information:
“Section 2 of the manuscript is not in the book, and some minor alterations were also made to three or four paragraphs at the end of Sec. 3 and the beginning of Sec. 4. The remainder of the article has not. to my knowledge, appeared in print. I have searched Bohm's list of publications and can find no titles that suggest the content might have been included.”
“I remember the period that it was written quite well. It predates the development of the implicate order and was at the time when we were exploring why Bohr was so confident that it would not be possible to introduce new concepts into physics that would allow us to discuss the individual quantum processes. As I recall, at that time Jeff Bub was in the States, and Donald Schumacher was a postgraduate student at Birbeck. Donald was very interested in the “quantum metalanguage” and had many discussions on the role of language in physics. This paper predates Bohm's interest in the rheomode. In fact, I think we started to discuss the rheomode shortly after this paper was written. I was probably a factor in the development of the rheomode, because my own interests were very much directed towards trying to base physics on the general notion of process, an idea that attracted me to Bohm in the first place, as he had similar thoughts. I felt that the rheomode, although an extremely interesting exercise, was not the real point, and Bohm eventually came to the same conclusion.”
“I think this manuscript is of historical interest. It shows quite clearly Bohm's deeper concern that the use of hidden variables would not provide the answer without radically changing the way we think about quantum processes, a feeling that we still shared after completingThe Undivided Universe. This point is made quite strongly towards the end of the paper, starting a dozen pages after the beginning of Sec. 6. I think there are features in the paper that are not clear, but you can begin to see the seeds of what was to appear in his later work. Herein lies, I think, the article's historical significance.”
Prof. David Bohm died on October 28, 1992.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bohm, D. On the role of hidden variables in the fundamental structure of physics. Found Phys 26, 719–786 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02058632
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02058632