Momentum work involves a change in the basic energetic concepts of physics, which also concerns binding processes. We apply the findings from the preceding papers in this series and describe any kind of interaction between particles via processes instead of forces. We illustrate a new understanding of the interaction and the energies involved using a vibrating diatomic molecule. After a detailed critical review of the current force-based interpretation of potential energy profiles, such as the Morse or Lennard-Jones potentials, the energy profiles are reinterpreted within the framework of quantum-process thermodynamics and the forms of energy released during the spontaneous formation of a bond are specified. Interaction by processes implies the real wave character of any quantum object, provides a path toward the development of a unified interaction theory, and should initiate a paradigm shift in fundamental theoretical physics.
Momentum work involves a change in the basic energetic concepts of physics, which also concerns binding processes. We apply the findings from the preceding papers in this series and describe any kind of interaction between particles via processes instead of forces. We illustrate a new understanding of the interaction and the energies involved using a vibrating diatomic molecule. After a detailed critical review of the current force-based interpretation of potential energy profiles, such as the Morse or Lennard-Jones potentials, the energy profiles are reinterpreted within the framework of quantum-process thermodynamics and the forms of energy released during the spontaneous formation of a bond are specified. Interaction by processes implies the real wave character of any quantum object, provides a path toward the development of a unified interaction theory, and should initiate a paradigm shift in fundamental theoretical physics.
Quantum theory To conceptualize the molecular origins of thermodynamic equilibrium, one must first understand the elemental ways by which molecules interact. How does the world really work? What are the most fundamental principles that form the basis of reality as we know it? Currently our understanding of reality rests upon two principal concepts in physics: quantum theory and relativity. Both of these have been subjected to stringent experimental tests over the past century, and their combination has in part led to a deep understanding of elementary particles. There still remain some incompatibilities between the two, namely in understanding the nature of gravity, and there have been intense efforts to find new fundamental physical explanations. However, for the purposes of our discussion, we will focus solely on quantum theory since for nearly all of the models and systems that we will discuss one can safely avoid considerations of relativistic effects. Quantum mechanics describes the complete time evolution of a system in a quantum sense, in a manner analogous to what Newtonian mechanics does for classical systems. It is most easily described in terms of a system of fundamental particles, such as electrons and protons.
This paper presents an interpretive framework for understanding quantum phenomena through the lens of process ontology. We propose that reality consists of discrete actualization events—random selections from pre-defined fundamental options—occurring in Hamilton space. By reinterpreting established quantum mechanics, field theory, and thermodynamics, we show how particles, atoms, and simple structures emerge as stable patterns of repeated actualizations. Energy represents capacity for actualization, information records actualization history, and classical objects emerge as high-probability attractors in the actualization sequence. This framework requires no new physics; rather, it organizes existing experimental and theoretical results into a coherent ontological picture. We demonstrate the framework through detailed examples including hydrogen atom formation, quantum measurement, particle decay, and photon emission. Version 2 will extend this foundation to address molecular complexity, biological systems, and consciousness. Keywords: Process ontology, quantum measurement, actualization, Hamilton space, discrete events, fundamental options, information theory, quantum foundations
This paper represents a further academic deepening and upgrading of the authors' 2019 publication A Hypothesis on the Spatial Motion Mode of Photons. It should be explicitly stated that this paper falls within the category of natural philosophical thought experiments—its core value lies in constructing a unified physical image of the nature of light through rigorous logical deduction, and proposing verifiable theoretical hypotheses and experimental schemes; the validity of all conclusions must ultimately be verified by rigorous and extensive scientific experiments before being incorporated into the theoretical system of physics. As a foundational concept of quantum mechanics, the wave-particle duality of light has been accompanied by profound philosophical perplexities and theoretical tensions since its proposal, becoming a core bottleneck in the integration of classical and quantum physics. This paper systematically sorts out the logical incompleteness in the current quantum interpretation system—including the self-negation of the complementarity concept, the problem of photon localization, the fundamental opposition between the statistical and non-statistical interpretations of the wave function, and the philosophical controversy over the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, revealing the inherent contradictions of the traditional wave-particle duality framework. On this basis, adopting classical physical images and the logic of reduction to absurdity, and based on six axioms and six preparatory propositions, this paper puts forward a natural philosophical hypothesis on the essence of photons: a photon is an energetic mass point with a diameter smaller than the Planck length, moving in a uniform spiral linear motion in space. The paper deduces the core characteristics such as velocity, frequency, and wavelength of the photon's uniform spiral linear motion, and designs three operable, repeatable, and quantifiable physical experimental schemes to provide specific paths for the empirical verification of the hypothesis. The research deduces that the angular momentum of photon spatial motion (excluding photon spin motion) is always the reduced Planck constant ℏ, the energy E=mc² is naturally unified with E=hν (the standard formula for wave energy), and the standard expression of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle ΔxΔpₓ≥ℏ/2 can be given a classical physical interpretation from the perspective of superposition of measurement deviations. This paper systematically responds to potential questions regarding the origin of photon particle nature, wave nature, and compatibility with relativity, arguing that the hypothesis provides a logically consistent and clearly visualized path for understanding the nature of light, builds a new natural philosophical framework for the integration of quantum and classical theories of light, and also offers a new thinking perspective for the paradigm shift in the study of the nature of light.
The momentum representation is seldom used in quantum mechanics courses. Some students are thence surprised by the change in viewpoint when, in doing advanced work, they have to use the momentum rather than the coordinate representation. In this work, we give an introduction to quantum mechanics in momentum space, where the Schrödinger equation becomes an integral equation. To this end we discuss standard problems, namely, the free particle, the quantum motion under a constant potential, a particle interacting with a potential step, and the motion of a particle under a harmonic potential. What is not so standard is that they are all conceived from momentum space and hence they, with the exception of the free particle, are not equivalent to the coordinate space ones with the same names. All the problems are solved within the momentum representation making no reference to the systems they correspond to in the coordinate representation.
This paper represents a further academic deepening and upgrading of the authors' 2019 publication A Hypothesis on the Spatial Motion Mode of Photons. It should be explicitly stated that this paper falls within the category of natural philosophical thought experiments—its core value lies in constructing a unified physical image of the nature of light through rigorous logical deduction, and proposing verifiable theoretical hypotheses and experimental schemes; the validity of all conclusions must ultimately be verified by rigorous and extensive scientific experiments before being incorporated into the theoretical system of physics. As a foundational concept of quantum mechanics, the wave-particle duality of light has been accompanied by profound philosophical perplexities and theoretical tensions since its proposal, becoming a core bottleneck in the integration of classical and quantum physics. This paper systematically sorts out the logical incompleteness in the current quantum interpretation system—including the self-negation of the complementarity concept, the problem of photon localization, the fundamental opposition between the statistical and non-statistical interpretations of the wave function, and the philosophical controversy over the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, revealing the inherent contradictions of the traditional wave-particle duality framework. On this basis, adopting classical physical images and the logic of reduction to absurdity, and based on six axioms and six preparatory propositions, this paper puts forward a natural philosophical hypothesis on the essence of photons: a photon is an energetic mass point with a diameter smaller than the Planck length, moving in a uniform spiral linear motion in space. The paper deduces the core characteristics such as velocity, frequency, and wavelength of the photon's uniform spiral linear motion, and designs three operable, repeatable, and quantifiable physical experimental schemes to provide specific paths for the empirical verification of the hypothesis. The research deduces that the angular momentum of photon spatial motion (excluding photon spin motion) is always the reduced Planck constant ℏ, the energy E=mc² is naturally unified with E=hν (the standard formula for wave energy), and the standard expression of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle ΔxΔpₓ≥ℏ/2 can be given a classical physical interpretation from the perspective of superposition of measurement deviations. This paper systematically responds to potential questions regarding the origin of photon particle nature, wave nature, and compatibility with relativity, arguing that the hypothesis provides a logically consistent and clearly visualized path for understanding the nature of light, builds a new natural philosophical framework for the integration of quantum and classical theories of light, and also offers a new thinking perspective for the paradigm shift in the study of the nature of light.