On quantum jumps and attractors of the Maxwell–Schrödinger equations

Abstract

Our goal is the discussion of the problem of mathematical interpretation of basic postulates (or “principles”) of Quantum Mechanics: transitions to quantum stationary orbits, the wave-particle duality, and the probabilistic interpretation, in the context of semiclassical self-consistent Maxwell–Schrödinger equations. We discuss possible dynamical interpretation of these postulates relying on a new general mathematical conjecture on global attractors of G-invariant nonlinear Hamiltonian partial differential equations with a Lie symmetry group G. This conjecture is inspired by the results on global attractors of nonlinear Hamiltonian PDEs obtained by the author together with his collaborators since 1990 for a list of model equations with three basic symmetry groups: the trivial group, the group of translations, and the unitary group \(\mathbf {U}(1)\). We sketch these results.