Past exam of the short options paper shared by Prelims and Parts A and B of the physics course of the University of Oxford / 2016 / S28 / 3 / Solution

Bohmian mechanics retains definite particle positions and deterministic trajectories, which makes it resemble classical mechanics at one level. But the guiding dynamics depends on a wavefunction obeying the Schrödinger equation, with velocity schematically ${\dot{Q}}_i=(\hslash /m_i)\mathrm{Im}({\nabla }_i\psi /\psi )(Q)$. For many particles this wavefunction is defined on configuration space and can be entangled. The velocity of one particle can consequently depend on the configuration of distant particles. Classical-looking trajectories therefore do not entail classical locality or separability.

Writing $\psi =R{e}^{iS/\hslash }$ also yields a Hamilton-Jacobi-like equation with quantum potential $Q=-{\sum }_i{\hslash }^2{\nabla }_i^{2}R/(2m_{i}R)$. The quantum potential is not generally a sum of ordinary pair potentials in three-space; its configuration dependence carries the nonclassical correlations. A stationary real bound-state wavefunction can give a stationary particle configuration, unlike the orbit one might infer from a classical Coulomb picture. Measurement outcomes are contextual: the actual apparatus interaction helps determine which position record is produced.

With the quantum-equilibrium distribution $\rho =|\psi {|}^2$, the guidance and wave equations preserve that distribution and reproduce the usual quantum statistics. Determinism alone does not establish that distribution; equilibrium or typicality is an additional explanatory component. The theory also leaves philosophical choices about whether the wavefunction is a physical field, a law-like object or part of a broader ontology.

The significant departure is therefore not simply replacing chance by hidden classical motion. It is the entangled guiding structure, nonlocal dependence and contextual relation between measurements and properties. The retained particles make the account continuous with some classical intuitions, while its actual law and ontology depart substantially from classical many-body mechanics.^[ref][ref]

For a measurement specifically, the apparatus configuration occupies one region associated with a record. The guidance law evolves that actual configuration into one branch of the entangled system-apparatus wavefunction; disjoint unoccupied branches do not contain the actual pointer. In quantum equilibrium the distribution of those occupied outcome regions is the Born distribution. Thus the account supplies a definite record without requiring stochastic wavefunction collapse, while paying the costs of added configuration ontology, nonlocal guidance and a justified equilibrium measure.