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.
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.
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).
All “interpretations” of Quantum Mechanics (QM) are predicated on the assumption that quantum mathematics is correct. We disagree. The Born rule implies that nature may have a hidden symmetry: |+ψ|2 = |–ψ|2 = probability. If nature uses –ψ then physicists would not recognize that their math is 100% wrong. This hypothesis could explain the mystery that quantum math appears to be the most accurate and productive mathematics humans ever possessed, the source of our high-tech economy, yet scientists cannot agree on what the quantum world is like: does it exist, are there infinitely many worlds, etc. If we change our wave-function from +ψ to –ψ, that will mean that quantum particles follow zero-energy “Elementary Waves” backwards. This symmetry does not conform to Noether’s Theorem because it does not involve physical space, rather an error in the human imagination. Wave-function collapse no longer occurs when a quantum particle is observed. It occurs when a free particle is emitted: when the particle selects which in-coming Elementary Wave to follow backwards. This undermines the foundations of the many-worlds theory. A superposition of states collapses as a particle is emitted, becoming only one state, located in only one world, not many. Type (Method/Approach): No one previously recognized the Born rule could hide a “Born Symmetry”: |+ψ|2 ≡ |–ψ|2. If so, it would be so immense, pervasive, insidious, and invisible that it could explain all quantum “weirdness” even though quantum math is the most accurate and productive science ever.
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.
The Quantum mechanics works but is not yet well understood. The difficulty in understanding lies not so much in the already very sophisticated mathematical formulations, but are much more rooted in the question of how the objects do that? Starting with the double-slit experiment, we will first provide the viewpoint of quantum mechanics. This leads us to the wave-particle duality. Photons have both wave and particle properties. Then we see the exact opposite: photons, electrons... are neither wave nor particle and address the question: Can we find truth from falsity? Can quantum mechanics be wrong in their conditions and yet lead to so excellent results? We then address the question of how good the mathematical prerequisites in classical physics is and how well they are fulfilled in quantum physics. Finally, we look at some very basic experiments from the point of view of the objects.
Although quantum mathematics is the most successful science ever, that does not mean we live in the universe described by quantum mechanics. This article is entirely based on symmetry. Two symmetrical universes could have exactly the same mathematics, but differ in other respects. The motivation for seeking symmetry inside quantum mathematics is that the QM picture of nature is bizarre. Richard Feynman says no one can understand it. We propose that the quantum world is not bizarre. QM portrays the wrong universe: the symmetrical one, not the one we inhabit. If quantum waves travel in the opposite direction as what is expected, then we would have the same math but a different universe, one that is recognizable and familiar. Wave equations are symmetrical with respect to time reversal. This means they are symmetrical with respect to wave direction reversal (with time going forwards). This wave equation symmetry is the basis of the symmetry of two models of the universe, only one of which is congruent with the universe we inhabit.