This article proposes a solution to the double slit experiment of Quantum Mechanics. We attack the problem from a previously untried angle. Unsolved math problems must be attacked from unexpected angles because every conventional approach has already been tried and failed. Richard Feynman warned that the quantum world is such a strange place that humans can’t understand it. There is empirical evidence of particles following zero energy waves backwards, although that is counterintuitive. Schr˝odinger waves carry zero energy: they carry probability amplitudes instead. In our proposed model zero energy Schr˝odinger waves emanating from every point on the target screen pass backwards through the two slits, interfere at the particle gun, and a particle randomly chooses which wave to follow backwards. Once that decision is made the particle follows its wave with a probability of one, through only one slit (it doesn’t matter which slit) and inevitably strikes that point from which its wave emanates. This produces the same math and same pattern on the target screen. We propose three Axioms of the Theory of Elementary Waves (TEW) as a better platform for mathematics in this experiment than the Axioms of QM. This constitutes a paradigm shift.
This article proposes a solution to the double slit experiment of Quantum Mechanics. We attack the problem from a previously untried angle. Unsolved math problems must be attacked from unexpected angles because every conventional approach has already been tried and failed. Richard Feynman warned that the quantum world is such a strange place that humans can’t understand it. There is empirical evidence of particles following zero energy waves backwards, although that is counterintuitive. Schr˝odinger waves carry zero energy: they carry probability amplitudes instead. In our proposed model zero energy Schr˝odinger waves emanating from every point on the target screen pass backwards through the two slits, interfere at the particle gun, and a particle randomly chooses which wave to follow backwards. Once that decision is made the particle follows its wave with a probability of one, through only one slit (it doesn’t matter which slit) and inevitably strikes that point from which its wave emanates. This produces the same math and same pattern on the target screen. We propose three Axioms of the Theory of Elementary Waves (TEW) as a better platform for mathematics in this experiment than the Axioms of QM. This constitutes a paradigm shift.
Why is quantum mathematics (QM) the only science based on probability amplitudes rather than probabilities? A paradigm shift called the Theory of Elementary Waves (TEW) posits zero energy waves traveling in the opposite direction as particles, which a particle follows backwards: like a probabilistic guidance system emanating from detectors. Probability amplitudes are the mathematical analog of these elementary rays. Although this proposal might sound like gibberish, that is the hallmark of a paradigm shift. Thomas Kuhn warns that previous paradigm shifts were rejected because they sounded like gibberish. TEW is internally coherent, explains a mountain of empirical data, and resolves insoluble problems of QM. For example, it dispenses with the need for wavefunction collapse because probability decisions are made at the particle source, not the detector. It is the only local realistic theory consistent with the Bell test experiments. That which QM calls “nonlocality,” TEW calls “elementary rays.” One term is vague, the other involves elegant mathematics. This article introduces that mathematical notation, explains complementarity in double slit experiments, and reinterprets Feynman diagrams. QM and TEW are partners that need each other. One is a science of observables; the other a science of how nature works independent of the observer.
The quantum world is allegedly strange. But is it? What if there’s a simple mathematical explanation, and a simple solution? The success of quantum mechanics (QM) arises from the accuracy of its probability predictions, which are obtained by squaring amplitudes (the Born rule). Suppose for a moment that nature uses the negative of QM’s equations. When squared they would yield the same probabilities, confirmed by the same experiments and technological triumphs. If that were true, if nature uses the negative of QM’s equations, then the quantum world would become transparent, easy to understand. No more Schrödinger’s-cat. No quantum-eraser. No backwards-in-time cause-and-effect. No paradoxes nor enigmas. But, what’s a negative quantum equation? It could mean that particles follow zero-energy waves backwards, instead of forwards. That’s still an eccentric idea, a residual strangeness. Overall, it’s a bargain. We could swap one odd idea for another, because wave-particle duality is odd. We are accustomed to wave-particle duality. But we’ll show that experiments support the other arrangement: quantum particles follow zero-energy waves backwards. How could that possibly be true? We present substantial experimental evidence, new mathematics, and six dozen colorful illustrations. This is the Theory of Elementary Waves (TEW).
John von Neumann states a paradox. Why does measuring something disrupt the smooth Schrodinger wave, causing it to collapse for no mathematical reason? This paradox is embedded in the double slit experiment. When a dot appears on the target screen, how does that cause the Schrodinger wave to collapse everywhere else, faster than the speed of light? Von Neumann didn’t follow his mathematics to its logical conclusion. If wave function collapse irreversably changes reality, then the math is telling us that the timing and location of that event cannot be at the target screen. An event fitting that description happens only once: at the gun. A gunshot CAN change history. We propose a new mathematics of Schrodinger waves. Zero energy waves from the target screen pass backwards through the double slits and impinge on the gun prior to the gun firing. A particle randomly chooses one to follow backwards. The particle’s choice of wave is proportional to the amplitude squared of that wave at the gun, determined by the superposition of the two waves moving backwards through the two slits. Why follow a wave of zero energy? Because Schrodinger waves convey amplitudes determining the probability density of that path.
Is the quantum world as strange as they say? If this were an unsolved mathematics question, we might try a new angle of attack. We know quantum mechanics (QM) is the most accurate and productive science humans ever had, meaning its probability predictions are accurate. Every probability has two square roots. The Born rule says either would produce the same probability. Assume nature uses the negative of QM’s equations. What could that mean? We’d need to revise Feynman’s path-integrals and Schrödinger’s equation. If waves travel in the opposite direction as what QM believes, that could produce the negative equations. No wave-particle duality. Free particles would follow backwards zero-energy waves coming from detectors. This, surprisingly, gets rid of quantum weirdness. Our proposal is that nature uses the negative of QM’s equations because particles follow zero-energy waves backwards. Considerable evidence fits this model, including a neutron-interferometer and the Davisson-Germer experiments, a quantum-eraser experiment, Wheeler-gedanken and double-slit experiments, Bell-test experiments, Stern-Gerlach, and high-energy scattering experiments. Finally, we propose a plan for how to motivate students to want to study quantum technologies, thereby addressing the most prominent problem in QM today: the shortage of an educated workforce, the scarcity of aspiring students.
John von Neumann states a paradox. Why does measuring something disrupt the smooth Schrödinger wave, causing it to collapse for no mathematical reason? This paradox is embedded in the double slit experiment. When a dot appears on the target screen, how does that cause the Schrödinger wave to collapse everywhere else, faster than the speed of light? Von Neumann didn’t follow his mathematics to its logical conclusion. If wave function collapse irreversably changes reality, then the math is telling us that the timing and location of that event cannot be at the target screen. An event fitting that description happens only once: at the gun. A gunshot CAN change history. We propose a new mathematics of Schrödinger waves. Zero energy waves from the target screen pass backwards through the double slits and impinge on the gun prior to the gun firing. A particle randomly chooses one to follow backwards. The particle’s choice of wave is proportional to the amplitude squared of that wave at the gun, determined by the superposition of the two waves moving backwards through the two slits. Why follow a wave of zero energy? Because Schrödinger waves convey amplitudes determining the probability density of that path.
The Theory of Elementary Waves (TEW) is based on three new Axioms that lead to a different understanding of quantum mathematics. There is a massive amount of research data that supports TEW. This article will take six well established experiments from mainstream scientific journals and re-interpret their axioms from a TEW point of view. Although it is usually asserted that QM explains all existing quantum experiments, that is only true if you can convince yourself that the quantum world is weird. If you adopt TEW axioms, suddenly the quantum world transforms itself into looking ordinary, like everyday Nature. If, for example, time only goes forwards, never backwards; if there is no such thing as a quantum eraser; if nothing is transmitted faster than the speed of light, then TEW axioms allow you to make sense of a quantum world which QM can only explain if you allow for weirdness throughout Nature. TEW consists of axioms that allow us to understand the quantum world in a way that makes sense from the viewpoint of our everyday experience.