Published on October 28, 2026–Updated on October 28, 2026
Dates
on the November 3, 2026
Café : 15h
Séminaire: 15h15
Location
Salle des séminaires
Hydrodynamic quantum analogs and neoclassical pilot-wave theory
Seminars of the Institut de Physique de Nice,
Abstract:
Since Yves Couder’s discovery in 2005 that droplets may self-propel along the surface of a vibrating liquid bath, numerous studies have shown that these walking droplets exhibit features previously thought to be exclusive to the microscopic, quantum realm. The walking-droplet system represents a macroscopic realization of wave-particle duality, and of a pilot-wave dynamics of the form proposed for microscopic quantum particles by Louis de Broglie in the 1920s. Experimental and theoretical results allow us to explore its potential and limitations as a quantum analog, and so redefine the boundary between classical and quantum. Theoretical descriptions of the hydrodynamic system allow us explore a broader class of classical pilot-wave system, including extensions to three-dimensions, which allow for the analogizing of systems with spin and for new studies in pilot-wave diffraction.
