The Wave Function Collapse as an Effect of Field Quantization

Dipankar Home, Ranjit Nair

Eduardo V. Flores

K. Lewin

It is pointed out that ordinary quantum mechanics as a phenomenological theory cannot account for the wave function collapse if it is not seen within the frame work of free field quantization which is needed to understand the particle structure of matter during wave packet evolution and to explain the collapse as symmetry breakdown by detection. Deuteron photo decay and the decay of a two-fermion spin singlet state (Bohm's version of EPR) with subsequent detection of one fermion serve as examples. A projection postulate and superluminal signals are not necessary to understand what entangled states predict.

Philip Pearle

The continuous spontaneous localization (CSL) theory of dynamical wave-function collapse is an experimentally testable alternative to nonrelativistic quantum mechanics. In it, collapse occurs because particles interact with a classical random field. However, particles gain energy from this field, i.e., particle energy is not conserved. Recently, it has been shown how to construct a theory dubbed ``completely quantized collapse'' (CQC) which is predictively equivalent to CSL. In CQC, a quantized random field is introduced, and CSL's classical random field becomes its eigenvalue. In CQC, energy is conserved, which allows one to understand that energy is conserved in CSL, as the particle's energy gain is compensated by the random field's energy loss. Since the random field has energy, it should have gravitational consequences. For that, one needs to know the random field's energy density. In this paper, it is shown how to construct a symmetric, conserved, energy-momentum-stress-density tensor associated with the quantized random field, even though this field obeys no dynamical equation and has no Lagrangian. Then, three examples are given involving the random field's energy density. One considers interacting particles, the second treats a ``cosmological'' particle creation model, the third involves the gravity of the random field.

Takuya Yamashita

Quantum mechanics is characterized by several distinctive features: (1) wave–particle duality, (2) the uncertainty principle, (3) superposition of states, (4) wave function collapse, (5) the tunneling effect, (6) quantum entanglement, and (7) the dominance of probability. Proposed interpretations include the Copenhagen interpretation, the de Broglie–Bohm pilot-wave theory, and the many-worlds interpretation. Despite sustained debate, no unified consensus has emerged. A central obstacle may lie in the unresolved ambiguity over whether a quantum entity is fundamentally a wave or a particle. Although photons and electrons exhibit wave-like and particle-like properties, the concepts of “wave” and “particle” are inherently mutually exclusive. This paper proposes that the true nature of a quantum is a quantized wave interacting at a single spatial point. Based on this premise, the study investigates the vacuum structure and interactions, together with the relationship between wave function collapse and the conservation of physical quantities. The mechanisms underlying the photoelectric effect and quantum tunneling are reexamined, along with the double-slit and delayed-choice quantum eraser experiments. By treating photons and electrons as quantized waves confined to point interactions, this work demonstrates that puzzling quantum behaviors, long considered obstacles to a coherent understanding of quantum mechanics, admit straightforward explanations.