Edward R. Floyd

Edward R. Floyd
Known for	Trajectory representation of quantum mechanics
Scientific career
Fields	Physics

Edward R. Floyd is a physicist known for developing a "trajectory representation" (or trajectory interpretation) of quantum mechanics, an alternative to the Copenhagen and Bohmian interpretations. He is listed in The Worldwide List of Dissident Scientists.

Work

Beginning in the 1980s and 1990s, Floyd published a series of papers proposing that quantum systems can be described by well-defined microstate trajectories derived from a reduced action, or "quantum Hamilton–Jacobi," formulation. In "A trajectory interpretation of transmission and reflection" (Physics Essays, vol. 7, 1994) he applied the approach to tunnelling problems. He has argued that his trajectories, related to group velocities, differ from Bohmian trajectories and that the classical limit of the theory can involve a loss of information and a residual indeterminacy.

Floyd has continued to publish on the foundations of quantum mechanics through arXiv preprints and journal articles, including a contribution to the volume Gravitation and Cosmology and commentary applying his framework to reported superluminal (OPERA) neutrino results. His interpretation remains outside the mainstream consensus on quantum foundations.

External links

• Edward R. Floyd preprints on arXiv
• "Interference, Reduced Action, and Trajectories" (PhilPapers)
• "OPERA Superluminal Neutrinos per Quantum Trajectories" (arXiv)