pilot wave

Coined by Louis de Broglie from the idea that the waveform pilots (guides) particles.

pilot wave (plural pilot waves)

1. (physics) A theoretical matter wave that guides the motion of point particles.
   • 1999, Alan A. Grometstein, The Roots of Things: Topics in Quantum Mechanics, →ISBN, page 321:

     To do their job, the pilot waves must travel to the far slit and return in time to influence the electron's path depending on whether that slit is open.

   • 2001, Gennaro Auletta, Giorgio Parisi, Foundations and Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, →ISBN, page 471:

     The theory of the pilot wave is a proposal in order to undersand the basic ontology of the microworld as composed of two different entities given simultaneously: a wave and a particle.

   • 2009, Bill Whitehouse, Mapping Mental Spaces - Volume 2, →ISBN, page 196:

     One of the functions of the pilot wave is to convey information, instantaneously, to the particle concerning any changes which are encountered by the pilot wave.

   • 2014, Mike Hockney, Why Math Must Replace Science, →ISBN:

     The real component of the Schrödinger equation describes the behaviour of the particle (it acts as a pilot wave for the particle), while the imaginary component describes the behaviour of the quantum potential.

2. (social sciences, by extension) A wavefunction on some measurement of information that guides the consciousness or behavior of individual people.
   • 1998, Michael Knapik, Developing Intelligent Agents for Distributed Systems, →ISBN, page 18:

     Pilot waves and projections from the implicate order to the explicate order of sense-perceptible phenomena are inscrutable to our everyday consiousness, at least directly.

   • 2003, Quentin Smith, Aleksandar Jokic, Consciousness: New Philosophical Perspectives, →ISBN, page 430:

     Speaking in general terms, my hypothesis is that the pilot wave of my consciousness directs my consciousness through configuration space in the sense of actualizing these possibilities; e.g. a possible hue becomes an actual content of my visual awareness by virtue of being actualized by a mental wave-form, in particular, an intentional act. More exactly, as we shall see below, it is the more complex wave-form produced by the entaglement of my brain's pilot wave with the pilot wave of my consciousness that simultaneously actualizes the sensory quale and a set of nerve cell firings.

   • 2010, Andrei Y. Khrennikov, Ubiquitous Quantum Structure: From Psychology to Finance, →ISBN, page 163:

     The quadratic function varies essentially more strongly than the linear function, and, as a result, such a financial pilot wave induces a nontrivial financial force.