Hydrodynamic Quantum Analogs

The second focus of our research has involved an examination of the potential and limitations of the walking-droplet system as a quantum analog. We began by revisiting a number of the early hydrodynamic quantum analogs (HQAs) discovered by Yves Couder, Emmanuel Fort and collaborators in Paris, including walker diffraction, orbital walker dynamics, crystal vibrations and walker tunneling. We have also discovered and explored a number of new HQAs, including walkers in corrals, Friedel oscillations and spin lattices. Likewise, we have examined a number of new hydrodynamic analogs of optical systems, including analogs of the Talbot effect and optical dimers. Our work has demonstrated that the mean pilot-wave potential can play a role analogous to the non-local quantum potential in Bohmian mechanics and so makes clear how classical, local pilot-wave dynamics can give rise to apparently nonlocal behaviour.