Pilot Wave Theory:

[beecee]

My thoughts on the electromagnetic drive  have always been that no known laws of physics were ever broken, rather that some apparent as yet unknown aspect could be at work. The following article and hypothetical seems to support those thoughts........

https://www.sciencealert.com/physicists-have-a-weird-new-idea-about-how-the-impossible-em-drive-could-produce-thrust

This Overlooked Theory Could Be The Missing Piece That Explains How The EM Drive Works

What if it doesn't break the laws of physics?

FIONA MACDONALD

7 OCT 2017

Ever since the EM drive first made headlines, science lovers have puzzled over how the propulsion system seems to produce thrust, despite the fact it's 'impossible' according to one of the most fundamental laws of physics - Newton's third law of motion.

Now a team of physicists have put forward an alternative explanation - it turns out the EM drive could actually work without breaking any scientific laws, if we factor in a weird and often overlooked idea in quantum physics - pilot wave theory.

more at link.....https://www.sciencealert.com/physicists-have-a-weird-new-idea-about-how-the-impossible-em-drive-could-produce-thrust

The new research has been published in The Journal of Applied Physical Science International.

http://www.ikpress.org/abstract/6485

Abstracts

Scientific literature refers to a strange observed phenomenon, “impossible” according to traditional physics, looking at the experimental feasibility of the so called “EM Drive”. The authors have called it an Impulsive Thrust from a Closed Radio-Frequency Cavity in Vacuum. Here we present a possible explanation for the observed thrust based on the conceptual framework of Eurhythmic Physics, a kind of pilot-wave theory aiming at bridging the gap between quantum and macroscopic systems. Applied to the present system, a generalized guidance condition could explain the claimed absence of reaction of the material of the drive on the enclosed fields.

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Some later news dated Feb this year.....

https://www.nowscience.co.uk/single-post/2018/02/24/China-Claims-They-Have-Successfully-Created-an-EM-Drive

China Claims They Have Successfully Created an EM Drive

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So, how viable is this "Pilot wave theory"? Or is this whole exercise a fraudulent joke played out for the scientific community? The last news I heard on this was that there was enough physics and observational data in this claim, to have it tested in LEO and space. What do others here believe is the case?

Edited May 12, 2018 by beecee

[beecee]

No one care to comment on this?

Again, my thoughts on the electromagnetic drive  have always been that no known laws of physics were ever broken, rather that some apparent as yet unknown aspect could be at work. The following article and hypothetical seems to support those thoughts........Is this Pilot wave theory possibly this unknown aspect at work? Or is this a fraud?

[Mordred]

Lets just say I remain sceptical on EM drives, though I don't follow the research on it to make a proper informed judgement to answer the above 

[beecee]

56 minutes ago, Mordred said:

Lets just say I remain sceptical on EM drives, though I don't follow the research on it to make a proper informed judgement to answer the above 

I'm also as sceptical as anyone for many reasons. I'm actually more concerned with this "Pilot wave theory" and how valid or otherwise it is. So far this aspect appears to be its only saving grace. Testing it in LEO or space would be interesting though, and either be the final nail in its coffin, or something confirming what I have always been of the opinion of...that is, if this isn't a fraud, and thrust is produced, I don't accept that any known laws have been broken...rather some as yet unknown aspect....perhaps Pilot wave theory? if it really works !

[Strange]

The Wikipedia article seems like quite a good summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilot_wave_theory

I don't know if there is any way of experimentally distinguishing it from other interpretations of QM.

This is another good article: https://www.quantamagazine.org/pilot-wave-theory-gains-experimental-support-20160516/

 

Thinking about it (for about 30 seconds ) this seems to just push the problem back a step. As I understand it, it makes particle properties deterministic and locally real but in order to do that introduces a wave (with, as far as I can tell, no measurable properties) that is non-local and is collapsed by observation. Weren't they exactly the sort of characteristics the theory was supposed to avoid? They have just been moved from the particles to some ... um ... "imaginary" wave.

I hereby invoke Occam's Razor!

[swansont]

1 hour ago, Strange said:

The Wikipedia article seems like quite a good summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilot_wave_theory

I don't know if there is any way of experimentally distinguishing it from other interpretations of QM.

That's what I'm not getting. If pilot waves explain the reactionless drive, then it's not just another interpretation of QM. There have to be quantifiable, testable differences, and this is an example of one of them.  But the article insists that Bohmian mechanics is just another interpretation.