Abstract In Copenhagen’s interpretation, a self-interference mechanism is assumed for a wave function to split and to pass through the slits simultaneously, then recombine and collapse to generate a dot signal on a detector. Its use of a single wave function to describe a whole ensemble without accounting for a particle’s individuality is incomplete. To better understand the single-electron double-slit interference, we use a wave-packet trajectory approach to track each electron’s dynamics and calculate the time-dependent interference intensity. We analyze the self-interference and cross-interference mechanisms to illustrate how an electron’s coherence length affects the self-interference and how it dictates the wave packet overlaps between adjacent electrons for the cross-interference mechanism to be effective. To circumvent a conflicting dilemma between the electron’s indivisibility and its wave-packet split while passing through the slits, we consider an alternate mechanism involving slit-induced quantized momentum. This mechanism preserves the electron’s indivisibility and avoids the illusive split, recombination and mysterious collapse of a single particle’s wave function.
Abstract In Copenhagen’s interpretation, a self-interference mechanism is assumed for a wave function to split and to pass through the slits simultaneously, then recombine and collapse to generate a dot signal on a detector. Its use of a single wave function to describe a whole ensemble without accounting for a particle’s individuality is incomplete. To better understand the single-electron double-slit interference, we use a wave-packet trajectory approach to track each electron’s dynamics and calculate the time-dependent interference intensity. We analyze the self-interference and cross-interference mechanisms to illustrate how an electron’s coherence length affects the self-interference and how it dictates the wave packet overlaps between adjacent electrons for the cross-interference mechanism to be effective. To circumvent a conflicting dilemma between the electron’s indivisibility and its wave-packet split while passing through the slits, we consider an alternate mechanism involving slit-induced quantized momentum. This mechanism preserves the electron’s indivisibility and avoids the illusive split, recombination and mysterious collapse of a single particle’s wave function.
For centuries Young’s double-slit interference continues to be a hot discussion subject about whether light is waves or particles. This work unravels the self-interference parados, and sheds light on such a concept that assumes a photon can split, self-interfere, and recombine. This work elucidates how coherent photons from a laser source could produce a double-slit interference pattern without the hypothesis of unphysical splitting and recombination of a single photon. Unlike the conventional single wave-function description for the whole ensemble of particles, we develop a pilot-wave trajectory approach to track every photon’s wave-packet propagation and calculate the evolution of the interference intensity in time. We demonstrate how wave packets and phase coherence affect the interference pattern. To resolve the century-old self-interference paradox, we show that such an hypothesis is unnecessary, and the illusion is due to the long coherence length of laser photons and overlaps of delocalized light wave packets.
We propose a quantum framework where cavity-induced nonlocal stochastic quantized momentum transfer governs double-slit interference of single eelectrons, replacing self-interference, wavefunction collapse, and Schrödinger’s wavefunction description. Using Heisenberg’s operator formalism, we model the electron’s interaction with the double slit as a quantized field potential. This approach explains interference via discrete momentum transfer through stochastic cavity modes. We explore its role as a non-local hidden-variable mechanism, predicting deviations in Bell violation, and finer discrete interference fringes in short cavity-mode wavelength regimes, opening new avenues for experimental verification. Our new interpretation of quantum dynamics sheds light on long-standing debates about quantum reality, hidden variables, wave-function superposition and Schrödinger’s cat, the illusion of self-interference of a single electron, and instantaneous wavefunction collapse misconception in the measurements. Our theory possesses the deterministic description of an electron a stochastic yet nonlocal hidden variable characteristic of the quantized cavity modes. It meets Einstein’s desire for a more complete theory and bridges the gap between physical reality and the incomplete conventional quantum theory that requires confusing Copenhagen or many-world interpretations.
The mainstream quantum mechanics uses “probability wave superposition and single-electron self-interference” to explain electron single-slit and double-slit diffraction. This theory deviates from the essential nature of real particle interactions and has fundamental logical flaws. The electron is a negatively charged real particle with a definite physical size and high-frequency transverse oscillation; a single real particle has no physical basis for self-interference. Abandoning the abstract probability wave hypothesis, this paper establishes a complete real-interaction model including electrostatic repulsion deflection, surface electron exchange, collision scattering, microscopic refraction, and barrier diffraction, based on the three-dimensional random transverse oscillation and charge repulsion of electrons. The model uniformly explains the real formation mechanism of electron single-slit diffraction and double-slit interference fringes. This paper proves that in single-electron sequential emission, each electron passes through only one slit; all bright and dark fringes are the statistical result of multiple microscopic interactions between electrons and slit walls or the central barrier. The disappearance of fringes under observation is caused by external disturbance to the inherent oscillation and wall-interaction equilibrium, not by wave function collapse. This paper further clarifies that whether an electron can pass through a slit is determined by its transverse oscillation amplitude, not by wavelength. Amplitude directly corresponds to slit width and is the core controlling variable of diffraction. Meanwhile, if no slit is placed, electrons flying directly to the screen produce no diffraction or interference fringes, proving that electrons themselves have no self-interference ability. Fringes are generated by slit structures, not by intrinsic wave interference of electrons. This study corrects the century-long misunderstanding of electron diffraction and establishes a new microscopic diffraction mechanism consistent with classical real-particle physics.
Quantum interference is traditionally interpreted as evidence of intrinsic wave–particle duality, invoking self-interference and wavefunction superposition. Here, we propose an alternative causal framework in which interference arises from interactions between a classical electron and a quantized electromagnetic field. In this picture, electrons follow definite, localized trajectories and produce discrete detection events, while the observed interference pattern emerges statistically from stochastic, nonlocal momentum transfers mediated by quantized field modes. Numerical simulations of the double-slit experiment show that dot-like interference fringes arise without invoking wavefunction collapse or intrinsic matter waves. Doubling the electron mass narrows the fringe spacing in agreement with de Broglie scaling, indicating that the effective wavelength emerges dynamically from particle–field coupling rather than representing an inherent property of the particle. The formulation is based on a rigorously defined Hamiltonian and derived equations describing electromagnetic coupling between particles and the slit environment. Although neutral particles such as neutrons or atoms carry no net charge monopoles, they possess electric or magnetic dipole and higher multipole moments that enable electromagnetic interactions with the slit apparatus, allowing discrete momentum transfer through the quantized field. Our simulations show that interference fringes arise from intermittent singleparticle detection events caused by stochastic momentum impulses from quantized electromagnetic modes. These results suggest a reinterpretation of wave–particle duality: the apparent wave-like behavior of matter may arise from interaction with the inherently wave-like quantized electromagnetic field—whose quanta are photons, the massless U(1)-gauge bosons—rather than from an intrinsic wave nature of the particles themselves. Our analysis is rigorous and is not speculative, because the proposed Hamiltonian for this system is physical. Within this nonlocal hidden-variable framework, the dot-like interference pattern observed in the double-slit experiment emerges from individual electrons traversing one slit at a time while receiving discrete momentum impulses from stochastic, spatially extended quantized electromagnetic fields.
Double-slit interference is one of the most fundamental quantum phenomena among photons and other particles. We propose a novel and realist quantum framework in which interference patterns in double-slit experiments arise not from wavefunction self-interference or collapse, but from causal non-local, quantized cavity-induced momentum exchange between the electron and the double-slit field potential. Unlike Copenhagen or Bohmian interpretations, our theory treats the electron as a deterministic, soliton-like entity governed by classical-like trajectories. The quantized potential of the slits—described via creation and annihilation operators—is responsible for discrete momentum transfer through coupling with cavity or barrier modes, modeled via octonionic algebra that differentiates internal particle structure from external field dynamics. The resulting interference pattern emerges from non-local, quantized interactions between the electron and field modes without invoking the probabilistic wavefunction. Our model aligns with experimental violations of Bell’s inequality and avoids conceptual paradoxes such as wavefunction collapse and self-interference. The framework makes several testable predictions, offering a promising new direction for understanding quantum interference with clearer physical realism.
Electron double-slit experiments, the essence of quantum mechanical “wave/particle duality”, have been extensively and continuously studied because their unrealistic interpretations have attracted many researchers. Here, we discuss recent sophisticated V-shaped double-slit experiments to elucidate electron-path information, i.e., which slit electrons pass through, which path they pursue, and where they arrive and interfere on the image plane. In a transmission electron microscope, an optically zero-propagation distance condition was realized, where the double-slit position was imaged just on the detector plane. Interference fringes composed of dot images were controlled by using two electron biprisms. Using a V-shaped double slit, we confirmed that it is possible to observe interference fringes only when the path information of individual electrons is not available. Furthermore, we studied how the interference fringes would shift their detected positions when electron wave phases were modulated before illumination to the double slit. Phase shifts were generated by tilting electron beams. We confirmed that each single electron as a wave changed its phase even when it traveled alone inside the microscope.