In the de Broglie - Bohm formulation of quantum mechanics, the electron is stationary in the ground state of the hydrogen atom, because the quantum force exactly cancels the Coulomb attraction of the electron to the proton. In this paper it is shown that classical electrodynamics similarly predicts the Coulomb force can be effectively canceled by part of the magnetic force that occurs between two similar particles each consisting of a point charge moving with circulatory motion at the speed of light. Supposition of such motion is the basis of the {\em Zitterbewegung} interpretation of quantum mechanics. The magnetic force between two luminally-circulating charges for separation large compared to their circulatory motions contains a radial inverse square law part with magnitude equal to the Coulomb force, sinusoidally modulated by the phase difference between the circulatory motions. When the particles have equal mass and their circulatory motions are aligned but out of phase, part of the magnetic force is equal but opposite the Coulomb force. This raises a possibility that the quantum force of Bohmian mechanics may be attributable to the magnetic force of classical electrodynamics. It is further shown that non-relativistic relative motion between the particles leads to modulation of the magnetic force with spatial period equal to the de Broglie wavelength.
In the de Broglie - Bohm formulation of quantum mechanics, the electron is stationary in the ground state of the hydrogen atom, because the quantum force exactly cancels the Coulomb attraction of the electron to the proton. In this paper it is shown that classical electrodynamics similarly predicts the Coulomb force can be effectively canceled by part of the magnetic force that occurs between two similar particles each consisting of a point charge moving with circulatory motion at the speed of light. Supposition of such motion is the basis of the {\em Zitterbewegung} interpretation of quantum mechanics. The magnetic force between two luminally-circulating charges for separation large compared to their circulatory motions contains a radial inverse square law part with magnitude equal to the Coulomb force, sinusoidally modulated by the phase difference between the circulatory motions. When the particles have equal mass and their circulatory motions are aligned but out of phase, part of the magnetic force is equal but opposite the Coulomb force. This raises a possibility that the quantum force of Bohmian mechanics may be attributable to the magnetic force of classical electrodynamics. It is further shown that non-relativistic relative motion between the particles leads to modulation of the magnetic force with spatial period equal to the de Broglie wavelength.
In the de Broglie-Bohm formulation of quantum theory, the quantum force exactly cancels the Coulomb attractive force in atomic \emph{s}-states. In this paper it is contended, based on energy conservation, that the force on a charge in a time-advanced electromagnetic field is of opposite sign to the Lorentz force due to the retarded field, and that such an advanced classical electromagnetic force accounts for part of Bohm's quantum force. If Coulomb attraction is negated, then some other mechanism must bind electrons to the nuclei of atoms. It is proposed magnetic interactions between relativistically-moving charges may account for atomic binding without assumption of a Coulomb potential. If charged spin-half particles always move luminally, as the Dirac theory implies, and so moving give rise to the intrinsic magnetic moment, then magnetic spin-spin interactions stronger than currently recognized are to be expected. Part of the magnetic interaction between equal-mass Dirac particles has been previously shown to be radial and inverse-square, of equal strength to Coulomb interaction, and sinusoidally modulated by interparticle separation with a spatial period equal the de Broglie wavelength. The Coulomb-like spin-spin interaction is further elaborated to show explicit correspondence with the de Broglie matter wave and Schrodinger wavefunction. It is proposed spin-spin interactions as expected according to this line of reasoning can properly account for the formation of atoms, if the electromagnetic interaction in atoms is classical and time symmetric, and if quarks and leptons are composed of more-fundamental spin-half particles.
It is shown that a wave mechanical quantum theory can be derived from relativistic classical electrodynamics, as a feature of the magnetic interaction of Dirac particles modeled as relativistically circulating point charges. The magnetic force between two classical point charges, each undergoing relativistic circulatory motion of small radius compared to the separation between their centers of circulation, and assuming a time-symmetric electromagnetic interaction, is modulated by a factor that behaves similarly to the Schrödinger wavefunction. The magnetic force between relativistically-circulating charges has been shown previously to have a radially-directed inverse-square part of similar strength to the Coulomb force, and sinusoidally modulated by the phase difference of the charges' circulatory motions. The magnetic force modulation in the case of relatively moving centers of charge circulation solves an equation formally identical to the time-dependent free-particle Schrödinger equation, apart from a factor of two on the partial time derivative term. Considering motion in a time-independent potential obtains that the modulation also satisfies an equation formally similar to the time-independent Schrodinger equation. Using a formula for relativistic rest energy advanced by Osiak, the time-independent Schrödinger equation is solved exactly by the resulting modulation function. The significance of the quantum mechanical wavefunction follows straightforwardly from these observations. After considering the modification of Wheeler-Feynman absorber theory required by the adoption of Minkowski-Osiak relativity, the model is extended to obtain the full complex Schrödinger wavefunction.
A neo-classical relativistic mechanics theory is presented where the spin of an electron is a natural part of its space-time path as a point particle. The fourth-order equation of motion corresponds to the same Lagrangian function in proper time as in special relativity except for an additional spin energy term. The total motion can be decomposed into a sum of a local spin motion about a point and a global motion of this point, called the spin center. The global motion is sub-luminal and obeys Newton's second law in proper time, the time for a clock fixed at the spin center, while the total motion occurs at the speed of light c, consistent with the eigenvalues of Dirac's velocity operators having magnitude c. The local spin motion corresponds to Schrödinger's zitterbewegung and is a perpetual motion, which for a free electron has a circular path in the spin-center frame. In an electro-magnetic field, this spin motion generates magnetic and electric dipole energies through the Lorentz force on the electron's point charge. The corresponding electric dipole energy is consistent with the spin-orbit coupling term in the corrected Pauli non-relativistic Hamiltonian but the magnetic dipole energy is one half of that in Dirac's theory. By defining a spin tensor as the angular momentum of the electron's total motion about its spin center, the fundamental equations of motion can be re-written in an identical form to those of the Barut-Zanghi electron theory. These equations of motion can then be expressed using operators applied to a state function of proper time satisfying a Dirac-Schrödinger spinor equation. The operators produce dynamic variables without any probability implications. For the free electron, the state function satisfies Dirac's relativistic wave equation when the Lorentz transformation is applied to express proper time in terms of an observer's space-time coordinates.
The classical equations of motion of a charged point-particle with intrinsic spin under the influence of an external electromagnetic field are restated and compared with the Heisenberg equations of motion derived from the Dirac theory. The partition of angular momentum between particle and field in the classical theory is contrasted to the Dirac theory of electron spin. The analogy between the Dirac equation and the theory of parametric amplification is pointed out.A free spinning point particle moving according to the laws of classical relativistic point-particle mechanics may move along a helix. The sum of the intrinsic spin $\ensuremath{\sigma}$ and the angular momentum of the helical motion in this classical analog of zitterbewegung is an effective spin vector S which is a constant of the motion. Because of this internal motion, the effective mass M of the particle differs from the mass m which is ascribed to it in the equations of motion. Solutions are found in which S is parallel or antiparallel to the momentum, and the sign of M is determined by the helicity. When placed in a uniform electromagnetic field, the particle behaves as if it had a rest mass M and a magnetic moment $\frac{e\ensuremath{\sigma}}{\mathrm{Mc}}$, in addition to any explicit magnetic moment that may be ascribed to it.
In 1959 Aharonov and Bohm suggested that an electron passing around a long solenoid would pick up a phase shift dependent on the magnetic field of the solenoid, even though the electrons themselves pass through a region of space which has a zero magnetic field. It has long been held that this result is purely quantum and is derived in many well known quantum mechanics text books using the Schrodinger equation and vector potential. Here the same phase shift is derived from a purely classical force, but relativistic transformations are taken into account. The force is in the direction of motion of the electron (or opposite) leading to a phase advance (or lag) and we obtain precisely the phase shift thought previously to be purely quantum. The only quantum result used here is the de Broglie wavelength of the particle, in order to get two slit like interference and the phase shift. We employ a stack of dipoles as the solenoid and note the same force on the electron in two different frames of reference. We shall consider the solenoid stationary and the electron moving, and then consider the electron rest frame and consider the solenoid moving in the opposite direction.
The radial velocity formula and the Planck-Einstein relation give us the zbw frequency (E = ħω = E/ħ) and zbw radius (a = c/ω = cħ/mc2 = ħ/mc) of the electron. We interpret this by noting that the c = aω identity gives us the E = mc2 = ma2ω2 equation, which suggests we should combine the total energy (kinetic and potential) of two harmonic oscillators to explain the electron mass. We do so by interpreting the elementary wavefunction as a two-dimensional (harmonic) electromagnetic oscillation in real space which drives the pointlike charge along the zbw current ring. This implies a dual view of the reality of the real and imaginary part of the wavefunction: 1.The x = a·cos(ωt) and y = a·sin(ωt) equations describe the motion of the pointlike charge. 2.As an electromagnetic oscillation, we write it as E = E·cos(ωt+π/2) + i·E·sin(ωt+π/2). The magnitudes of the oscillation a and E are expressed in distance (m) and force per unit charge (N/C) respectively and are related because the energy of both oscillations is one and the same. The model – which implies the energy of the oscillation and, therefore, the effective mass of the electron is spread over the zbw disk – offers an equally intuitive explanation for the angular momentum, magnetic moment and the g-factor of charged spin-1/2 particles. Most importantly, the model also offers us an intuitive interpretation of Einstein’s enigmatic mass-energy equivalence relation. Going from the stationary to the moving reference frame, we argue that the plane of the zbw oscillation should be parallel to the direction of motion so as to be consistent with the results of the Stern-Gerlach experiment.