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arXiv:1507.05466 · Physical Review A

Quantum theory of an electromagnetic observer: Classically behaving macroscopic systems and the emergence of the classical world in quantum electrodynamics

Lev I. Plimak, Misha Ivanov, Andrea Aiello, Stig Stenholm

Published Aug 25, 2015• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Quantum electrodynamics under conditions of distinguishability of interacting matter entities, and of controlled actions and back-actions between them, is considered. Such ``mesoscopic quantum electrodynamics'' is shown to share its dynamical structure with the classical stochastic electrodynamics. In formal terms, we demonstrate that all general relations of the mesoscopic quantum electrodynamics may be recast in a form lacking Planck's constant. Mesoscopic quantum electrodynamics is therefore subject to ``doing quantum electrodynamics while thinking classically,'' allowing one to substitute essentially classical considerations for quantum ones without any loss in generality. Implications of these results for the quantum measurement theory are discussed.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.92.022122

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Quantum electrodynamics under conditions of distinguishability of interacting matter entities, and of controlled actions and back-actions between them, is considered. Such mesoscopic quantum electrodynamics'' is shown to share its dynamical structure with the classical stochastic electrodynamics. In formal terms, we demonstrate that all general relations of the mesoscopic quantum electrodynamics may be recast in a form lacking Planck's constant. Mesoscopic quantum electrodynamics is therefore subject to doing quantum electrodynamics while thinking classically,'' allowing one to substitute essentially classical considerations for quantum ones without any loss in generality. Implications of these results for the quantum measurement theory are discussed.
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There exists a paradigm in which Quantum Mechanics is an exclusively developed theory to explain phenomena on a microscopic scale. As the Planck's constant is extremely small, h∼10−34J.sh\sim10^{-34}{J.s}h∼10−34J.s, and as in the relation of de Broglie the wavelength is inversely proportional to the momentum; for a mesoscopic or macroscopic object the Broglie wavelength is very small, and consequently the undulatory behavior of this object is undetectable. In this paper we show that with a particle oscillating around its classical trajectory, the action is an integer multiple of a quantum of action, S=nhoS = nh_{o}S=nho​. The quantum of action, hoh_{o}ho​, which plays a role equivalent to Planck's constant, is a free parameter that must be determined and depends on the physical system considered. For a mesoscopic and macroscopic system: ho≫hh_{o}\gg hho​≫h, this allows us to describe these systems with the formalism of quantum mechanics.
During the last decades there has been a relatively extensive attempt to develop the theory of stochastic electrodynamics (SED) with a view to establishing it as the foundation for quantum mechanics. The theory had several important successes, but failed when applied to the study of particles subject to nonlinear forces. An analysis of the failure showed that its reasons are not to be ascribed to the principles of SED, but to the methods used to construct the theory, particularly the use of a Fokker-Planck approximation and perturbation theory. A new, non perturbative approach has been developed, called linear stochastic electrodynamics (LSED), of which a clean form is presented here. After introducing the fundamentals of SED, we discuss in detail the principles on which LSED is constructed. We pay attention to the fundamental issue of the mechanism that leads to the quantum behaviour of field and matter, and demonstrate that indeed LSED is a natural way to the quantum formalism by demanding its solutions to comply with a limited number of principles, each one with a clear physical meaning. As a further application of the principles of LSED we derive also the Planck distribution. In a final section we revisit some of the most tantalizing quandaries of quantum mechanics from the point of view offered by the present theory, and show that it offers a clear physical answer to them.
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Quantum Electrodynamics (QED) has been extremely successful inits predictive capability for atomic phenomena. Thus the greatest hope for any alternative view is solely to mimic the predictive capability of quantum mechanics (QM), and perhaps its usefulness will lie in gaining a better understanding of microscopic phenomena. Many “paradoxes” and problematic situations emerge in QED. To combat the QED problems, the field of Stochastics Electrodynamics (SE) emerged, wherein a random “zero point radiation” is assumed to fill all of space in an attmept to explain quantum phenomena, without some of the paradoxical concerns. SE, however, has greater failings. One is that the electromagnetic field energy must be infinit eto work. We have examined a deterministic side branch of SE, “self field” electrodynamics, which may overcome the probelms of SE. Self field electrodynamics (SFE) utilizes the chaotic nature of electromagnetic emissions, as charges lose energy near atomic dimensions, to try to understand and mimic quantum phenomena. These fields and charges can “interact with themselves” in a non-linear fashion, and may thereby explain many quantum phenomena from a semi-classical viewpoint. Referred to as self fields, they have gone by other names in the literature: “evanesccent radiation”, “virtual photons”, and “vacuum fluctuations”. Using self fields, we discuss the uncertainty principles, the Casimir effects, and the black-body radiation spectrum, diffraction and interference effects, Schrodinger's equation, Planck's constant, and the nature of the electron and how they might be understood in the present framework. No new theory could ever replace QED. The self field view (if correct) would, at best, only serve to provide some understanding of the processes by which strange quantum phenomena occur at the atomic level. We discuss possible areas where experiments might be employed to test SFE, and areas where future work may lie.