Hydrodynamic quantum analogs

Department of Mathematics, MIT

A decade ago, Yves Couder and Emmanuel Fort discovered that droplets walking on a vibrating fluid bath exhibit several features previously thought to be exclusive to the microscopic, quantum realm. These walking droplets propel themselves by virtue of a resonant interaction with their own wavefield, and so represent the first macroscopic realization of a pilot-wave system of the form proposed for microscopic quantum dynamics by Louis de Broglie in the 1920s. New experimental and theoretical results in turn reveal and rationalize the emergence of quantization and quantum-like statistics from pilot-wave dynamics in a number of settings. Recent theoretical advances allow for the robust modeling of the interactions of the droplets with submerged boundaries, as arise in a number of key quantum analog systems. The relation between this hydrodynamic system and various realist models of quantum dynamics is discussed, and would seem to invite a critical revisitation of quantum foundations.