Solving Schrödinger equation via Tartaglia/Pascal triangle: A possible link between stochastic processing and quantum mechanics

Abstract

In a recent paper (Farina et al. in Signal Image Video Process 1-16, 2011), it was shown a clean connection between the solution of the classical heat equation and the Tartaglia/Pascal/Yang-Hui triangle. When the time variable in the heat equation is substituted with the imaginary time, the heat equation becomes the Schrödinger equation of the quantum mechanics. So, a conjecture was put forward about a connection between the solution of the Schrödinger equation and a suitable generalization of the Tartaglia triangle. This paper proves that this conjecture is true and shows a new-as far as the authors are aware-result concerning the generalization of the classical Tartaglia triangle by introducing the "complex-valued Tartaglia triangle." A "complex-valued Tartaglia triangle" is just the square root of an ordinary Tartaglia triangle, with a suitable phase factor calculated via a discretized version of the ordinary continuous case of the Schrödinger equation. So, taking the square of this complex-valued Tartaglia triangle gives back exactly the probability distribution of a discrete random walk. We also discuss about potential connections between the theories of stochastic processes and quantum mechanics: a connection debated since the inception of the theories and still lively hot today. © 2013 Springer-Verlag London.