The wave model of light was born in the 17th Century and was quickly abandoned in favor of the old Corpuscular Hypothesis on the strength of Newton’s authority. It flourished again in the 19th Century only to be eclipsed once again by the Corpuscular Hypothesis at the turn of the century. The participants at the 5th Solvay Conference reached a compromise in 1926 and finally merged the wave and the corpuscle into an unfathomable concoction known as ‘wave-packet’. This is the official model today, but now it rests on the authority of Niels Bohr. However, the Wave-Packet Hypothesis is not about architecture. The mathematical establishment has turned the argument upside down and incongruously states that light ‘behaves’ as a wave or as a particle depending on the circumstances. There is, therefore, no formal physical configuration of light in Mathematical Physics that a theorist can challenge. Many in the establishment even argue that a mediator is unnecessary and dispose of one entirely in their talks. We compare the wave, particle, field, and wave-packet models championed by Classical Mechanics, Quantum Mechanics, and General Relativity against the Rope Hypothesis to underscore that a new paradigm has emerged in the centuries-old debate.
This is the sixth report on a new research programme investigating the electromagnetic (EM) interaction. This paper analyzes the effects of interactions arising from multiple, remote electrons on one or several, local ‘target’ electrons. These interactions are the result of the new quantized form of the EM impulse introduced in the previous paper. This model is used to re-interpret various optical effects that have previously required the existence of a fundamental object known as ‘LIGHT’: a basic entity, considered to be either a particle or a wave (or even both? - the ‘photon’) that travels across space. In contrast, this new EM model is constructed upon the key role of the ‘light’ emission processes, categorized as either oscillatory (as in antenna) or transitory (as within atoms). These real emission processes are now integrated into the asynchronous action-at-a-distance model of the EM interaction that is the basis of this new theory. Mathematically, this new model describes algebraically how variable or periodic phenomena (that have been assumed require the use of waves) can be explained by periodic, asynchronous, remote interactions between point particles without any use of differential equations (including the wave equation). This paper now extends the earlier pair-wise interaction between two electrons into the many-body world of macroscopic reality. The two key ideas of interaction saturation and selection are now introduced, which totally differentiate this theory from all other theories constructed around universal, continuous interaction (or ‘force’) models. By eliminating all the ray, wave and photon models of ‘light’ this paper now extends the original Newtonian mechanical philosophy of nature to the major domain of optics: both classical and quantum. The emphasis is on the electrons and on the relationship between electrons and not on some hypothetical ‘carrier’ that travels between them – this is the Newtonian action-at-a-distance particulate model extended to multiple times. The idea of selection leads to the introduction of information waves that identify the location and velocities of all other electrons that might participate in a ray-like exchange of momentum between pairs of electrons (saturation) that always act like particles (real trajectories across space). These supra-luminal waves do not carry momentum but ensure that the interaction minimizes the exchange of action across a non-local region of space. This new model resolves the long-time paradox of electrons as waves or particles: electrons are seen here as real point particles that interact periodically (rather than continuously) together; the focus is on the relationship between them that can be described by the discrete mathematics of particles or the periodic mathematics usually associated with waves. This paper includes the first analytical solution to the 3D scattering of two electrons – in the center-of-mass frame of reference both electrons are shown to go in quantized spiraling, conical motions: towards each other and then away from each other. The present theory provides an alternative to Feynman’s mathematical approach to “the mysterious properties of light” while providing a physical explanation for some of the calculational diagrams introduced by Feynman in his approach to quantum electrodynamics (QED). This now replaces all field theories of ‘light’ without introducing the concept of the photon or virtual particles and so eliminates all QED infinities in the physical properties associated with the interactions of electrons arising from the false idea of vacuum polarization, returning the vacuum to its Newtonian role as the passive, empty space between real particles. This new EM theory establishes a firm foundation for a new quantum theory that covers all scales of nature from the macroscopic to the heart of the atomic nucleus, while covering the complete range of interaction sets from a pair of electrons to the myriads of electrons existing in macroscopic objects. The next (companion) paper will explain the wave-like properties of electrons while providing a new, comprehensive theory of quantum measurement. This next paper will finally establish the critical link between the realistic model of the micro-world introduced so far and the macroscopic world of scientific measurements. * Surrey B.C. Canada (604) 542-2299spsi99@telus.net © H. J. Spencer Version 1.340 23-06-201Begun 23-06-2010 (pp. 133; 97Kw, 1900KB)
The theory is based on a new hypothesis on the nature of matter. This hypothesis is that the elementary particles, atoms, and molecules we have found in nature are not part of the real world, but constitute information about the real world. They are the wave components of a generalized Fourier analysis of our observations (which in the final analysis are always space-time distributions of photon- or particle-counter clicks). This Fourier analysis should be so general that every observation can be expressed in its terms; it thereby becomes axiomatic. Physicists of past generations, with their sound instincts, were intuitively approaching this most general and most powerful possible analysis of our observations. With the discovery of quantum mechanics, this development had advanced so far that the precise formulation of this ultimate analysis could be guessed. The model which can guide us to this mathematical formulation is that of an ideal optical observation on a physical object. This observation is made by illuminating the object with a finite number of laser beams of known amplitude and phase, and observing the amplitude and phase of the finite number of light beams emerging from the object space. The assumption that this is all the information we can ever obtain about the object leads to a wave function of the object which consists of light waves, extrapolated from the photon detectors back to the object space. It is suggested that these light waves should be presented as a product of amplitudes in a
4n-dimensional space, where
n is the number of light quanta in the signal. Most important, force, or interaction, can then be described as a linear transformation in this space. The actual mathematical formalism proposed on the basis of that model is
Xf=dtitdf.
X is the Hamiltonian of the whole universe with ${n}_{0}\ensuremath{\cong}{10}^{80}$ particles. It is a $4{n}_{0}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}4{n}_{0}$ linear matrix operator.
f is a
4n0-component vector wave function representing waves traveling at the speed of light. The coordinates are the homogeneous coordinates (
xj,yj,zj,uj) of the
n0 particles in the closed universe. The eigenvalue $\ensuremath{\omega}$, in $Xf=\ensuremath{\omega}f$, is a $4{n}_{0}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}4{n}_{0}$ Hermitian matrix. It can be divided into ${n}_{0}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{n}_{0}$, 4 \ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{} 4 submatrices, each representing a complete set of dynamic and inertial quantities of elementary particles, or interaction quanta between particles. $\frac{\mathrm{it}df}{\mathrm{dt}}=\ensuremath{\omega}f$ is therefore a complete expression of the dynamic conservation laws. A special orthogonal transformation ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{0}$ transforms the solution into a standard solution with eigenvalue ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{0}$, representing
n0 identical elementary particles. The assumption that the universe is of maximum probability then leads to simple explicit expressions for all matrix elements of ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{0}$. This means that the energy levels of all
n-particle systems (atoms or molecules) of the theory can be directly calculated. The equations demand relations between cosmological constants and atomic constants. In a universe of the size and mass of our observed universe, the elementary particle would have to be the size of the proton.
Quantum computers, hypothesized in 1980s, use concepts of superposition and entanglement phenomena. Although theoretical propositions and associated search algorithms for accurate measurements are being generated, the development of practical quantum computers themselves are advancing very slowly requiring enormous time and investments. The underlying concepts of a quantum computer are not new to the optical domain. However, the crucial enabling concepts of Entanglement and Superposition Principle are remaining clouded under the unresolved postulates, Wave-Particle Duality (WPD), and Wave Packet Reduction (WPR), implicating incompleteness in the interpretations of the mathematical formalism behind Quantum Mechanics. The WPD debate started during late1600 between Newton and Huygens. Young’s resolution of WPD through his double-slit experiment in 1802 was effectively overturned by Einstein’s interpretation of photoelectric effect as due to “indivisible light quanta”. However, Einstein disowned his “light quanta” postulate shortly before his death in1955, even though it had earned him the Nobel Prize. We resolve WPD by synthesizing Newton’s and Maxwell’s concepts and assume atoms do emit quanta but propagate as time-finite exponential pulses. This assumption also resolves WPR for light-matter interaction with the assumption that Schrodinger’s ψ represents atom’s internal dipolar amplitude stimulations. This over-turns Born’s interpretation that ψ only represents the abstract mathematical probability amplitude, rather than the physical “internal amplitude stimulation” of the quantum entity. However, our concept of atomic pulse emission forces us to re-derive the expression for the N-slit grating-spectrometer response since the classical derivation uses CW light, which does not exist. This pulsespectrometric response function strengthens our postulate since the grating response to the exponential pulse appears to be the convolution of a Lorentzian spectrum with the classical CW response function of the grating. The Fourier Transform of an exponential function is Lorentzian and QM predicts spontaneous emission line width to be Lorentzian. Then, conceptually one can extend the grating-expression (with N=2) to get the double-slit pattern. This approach preserves the classical causality that each of the two slits, like the N-signals out of a grating, are physically real and jointly stimulate the quantum detector array at the far field to generate the “Local” cosine fringes. The detector array executes the square modulus operation on its imposed dipolar amplitude stimulation and absorbs the necessary energy to fill up their quantum cups. Hence the double-slit pattern must also be “Local”, just as the N-slit grating spectrum is generated locally at the exit spectral-plane of the spectrometer. This removes the need to believe that “single photons” mysteriously generate the double slit pattern.
The basic results are discussed in terms of quantum theory interpretations. The basic features of duality, entanglement, contextuality, and non-locality are inherent in all discussions. The wave-packet description of neutrons inside the interferometer combines particle features and properties of the apparatus. The formalism of quantum physics has been proven true, but the discussion about the interpretation of this theory is still ongoing. How a classical world may appear out of quantum features of nature is related to decoherence phenomena which exist in all parts of an experiment, but a final answer to this question cannot be given. One should be satisfied to have a very good description of the observed phenomena even though the interpretation of quantum theory remains ambiguous.
Abstract: The nature of light has historically been described through the dual framework of wave and particle behavior. While classical electrodynamics successfully models light as a wave and quantum theory introduces the photon as a particle-like entity, the coexistence of these descriptions suggests an incomplete understanding of the underlying physical mechanism. In this work, we propose that light is neither fundamentally a particle nor a wave, but a propagating excitation of an underlying continuous medium, termed the Space Element (SE). The apparent particle-like behavior emerges from a density-dependent intrinsic localization mechanism, referred to as Primordial Centripetal Attraction (PCA). A minimal dynamical model is developed in which propagation is governed by a field equation, while localization arises from a gradient-dependent energy functional. This framework provides a unified interpretation of wave–particle duality without requiring dual ontology. We further outline experimentally testable predictions, including density-gradient–dependent light deviation and localization-width modulation.