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Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE

Photons are fluctuations of a random (zeropoint) radiation filling the whole space

Emilio Santos

Published Aug 1, 2005• 6 citations

Abstract

I assume that everywhere in space there is a real random electromagnetic radiation, or zeropoint field (ZPF), which looks similar for all inertial observers, so that the stochastic properties of the field should be Lorentz invariant. This fixes the spectrum except for a single adjustable parameter measuring the scale, which is identified with Planck's constant, so making the ZPF identical to the quantum electromagnetic vacuum. Photons are just fluctuations of the random field or, equivalently, wavepackets in the form of needles of radiation superimposed to the ZPF. Two photons are "classically correlated" if the correlation involves just the intensity above the average energy of the ZPF, but they are "entangled" if the ZP fields in the neighbourhood of the photons are also correlated. These assumptions may explain all quantum optical phenomena involving radiation and macroscopic bodies, provided the latter may be treated as classical. That is, we have an interpretation of quantization for light but not for matter. Detection of photons involves subtracting the ZPF, which cannot be made without a fundamental uncertainty. This explains why photon counters cannot be manufactured with 100% efficiency and no noise (dark rate), which prevents the violation of a genuine Bell inequality (this is the so-called detection loophole). The theory thus obtained agrees very closely with standard quantum optics if this is formulated in the Wigner representation.

DOI: 10.1117/12.619611

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I assume that everywhere in space there is a real random electromagnetic radiation, or zeropoint field (ZPF), which looks similar for all inertial observers, so that the stochastic properties of the field should be Lorentz invariant. This fixes the spectrum except for a single adjustable parameter measuring the scale, which is identified with Planck's constant, so making the ZPF identical to the quantum electromagnetic vacuum. Photons are just fluctuations of the random field or, equivalently, wavepackets in the form of needles of radiation superimposed to the ZPF. Two photons are "classically correlated" if the correlation involves just the intensity above the average energy of the ZPF, but they are "entangled" if the ZP fields in the neighbourhood of the photons are also correlated. These assumptions may explain all quantum optical phenomena involving radiation and macroscopic bodies, provided the latter may be treated as classical. That is, we have an interpretation of quantization for light but not for matter. Detection of photons involves subtracting the ZPF, which cannot be made without a fundamental uncertainty. This explains why photon counters cannot be manufactured with 100% efficiency and no noise (dark rate), which prevents the violation of a genuine Bell inequality (this is the so-called detection loophole). The theory thus obtained agrees very closely with standard quantum optics if this is formulated in the Wigner representation.

The main argument against the assumption that quantum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field are real is that they do not activate photon detectors. In order to met this objection I study several models of photon counter compatible with the reality of the fluctuations. The models predict a nonlinear dependence of the counting rate with the light intensity and the existence of a nonthermal dark rate, results which might explain the difficulty for performing loophole-free optical tests of Bell's inequality.

I conjecture that only those states of light whose Wigner function is positive are real states, and give arguments suggesting that this is not a serious restriction. Hence it follows that the Wigner formalism in quantum optics is capable of interpretation as a classical wave field with the addition of a zeropoint contribution. Thus entanglement between pairs of photons with a common origin occurs because the two light signals have amplitudes and phases, both below and above the zeropoint intensity level, which are correlated with each other.

In quantum mechanics, light cannot be described in terms of waves and particles at the same time. However, the question about light "as it really is" implies a description that is independent from the constraints of measurement. It is rather preferable to incorporate both aspects in a causal ontological theory, especially if it simplifies explanation and improves predictions. Hence, the photon can be described as an extended longitudinal association of discrete indivisible constituents, which are held together by the effect of their own waves on each other. The same waves can then be used to interpret the force of interactions between different pulses of light, or between light and matter. The concept of wavemediated interaction between sub-photonic entities is entirely consistent with the observations of quantum mechanics. The key is to assume that elementary sources of waves never collide, and that they have constant parameters. Novel experimental implications follow from this approach. For example, the speed of propagation of changes within magnetic or electrostatic fields may not be equal to the speed of light. Also, interference fringes should be detectable beyond the volume of overlap of two non-entangled beams, but only in special experimental settings.

The quantum electromagnetic (EM) field is formulated in the Weyl–Wigner representation (WW), which is equivalent to the standard Hilbert space one (HS). In principle, it is possible to interpret within WW all experiments involving the EM field interacting with macroscopic bodies, the latter treated classically. In the WW formalism, the essential difference between classical electrodynamics and the quantum theory of the EM field is just the assumption that there is a random EM field-filling space, i.e., the existence of a zero-point field with a Gaussian distribution for the field amplitudes. I analyze a typical optical test of a Bell inequality. The model admits an interpretation compatible with local realism, modulo a number of assumptions assumed plausible.

I propose that quantum mechanics is a stochastic theory and quantum phenomena derive from the existence of real vacuum stochastic fields filling space. I revisit stochastic electrodynamics (SED), a theory that studies classical systems of electrically charged particles immersed in an electromagnetic (zeropoint) radiation field with spectral density proportional to the cube of the frequency, Planck's constant appearing as the parameter fixing the scale. Asides from briefly reviewing known results, I make a detailed comparison between SED and quantum mechanics. Both theories make the same predictions when the stochastic equations of motion are of first order in Planck constant, but not in general. I propose that SED provides a clue for a realistic interpretation of quantum theory.

How can we construct a picture of the photon from the wealth of observation material available to us? The photon appears to have a split personality: it is neither a wave nor a particle but something else which, depending on the experimental situation, exhibits a wave- or a particle-like behavior. In other words, in the photon (as in material particles such as the electron) the particle–wave dualism becomes manifest. Whereas classically the wave and the particle pictures are separate, quantum mechanics accomplishes a formal synthesis through a unified mathematical treatment. Let us look first at the wave aspect familiar from classical electrodynamics, which seems to be the most natural description. It makes all the different interference phenomena understandable, such as the “interference of the photon with itself” on the one hand and the appearance of spatial and temporal intensity correlations in a thermal radiation field on the other (which are obviously brought about by superposition of elementary waves emitted independently from different atoms). It might come as a surprise (at least for those having quantum mechanical preconceptions) that the classical theory is valid down to arbitrarily small intensities: the visibility of the interference pattern does not deteriorate even for very small intensities – the zero point fluctuations of the electromagnetic field advocated by quantum mechanics do not have a disturbing effect – and is valid not only for conventional interference experiments but also for interference between independently generated light beams (in the form of laser light).