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The Origin of Quantum Mechanics

Ruhi Abdallah

Published Sep 15, 2025• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In this paper, we derive the full quantum mechanics theory and its postulates from a totally classical field theory. We just extend the Lorentz symmetry group of space-time by adding a new simple abelian symmetry, gauge them both, and find the resultant equations of motion. Then, all the postulates of quantum mechanics, including spin and the Planck constant, are derived easily and naturally. The interpretation of quantum mechanics gets new insights. Furthermore, the speed of light constant, the number of space-time dimensions, and the Minkowskian metric are derived as collateral results. all in one piece, however ambitious it may seem, it just works. In short, Quantum mechanics is a classical field theory after all, mathematically proven.

DOI
10.20944/preprints202509.1085.v1

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In this paper, we derive the full quantum mechanics theory and its postulates from a totally classical field theory. We just extend the Lorentz symmetry group of space-time by adding a new simple abelian symmetry, gauge them both, and find the resultant equations of motion. Then, all the postulates of quantum mechanics, including spin and the Planck constant, are derived easily and naturally. The interpretation of quantum mechanics gets new insights. Furthermore, the speed of light constant, the number of space-time dimensions, and the Minkowskian metric are derived as collateral results. all in one piece, however ambitious it may seem, it just works. In short, Quantum mechanics is a classical field theory after all, mathematically proven.
Quantum mechanics is a cornerstone of modern physics, yet its fundamental origin and mathematical foundation remain elusive. In this paper, we derive the complete structure of quantum mechanics from a purely classical field theory. By gauging the double cover of the Lorentz symmetry group of space–time, the resulting equations of motion naturally yield all postulates of quantum mechanics, including the emergence of the Planck constant. This approach provides a coherent interpretation and demonstrates that quantum mechanics can be viewed as a mathematically consistent classical field theory.
Quantum theory (QT) is usually formulated in terms of abstract mathematical postulates involving Hilbert spaces, state vectors and unitary operators. In this paper, we show that the full formalism of QT can instead be derived from five simple physical requirements, based on elementary assumptions regarding preparations, transformations and measurements. This is very similar to the usual formulation of special relativity, where two simple physical requirements—the principles of relativity and light speed invariance—are used to derive the mathematical structure of Minkowski space–time. Our derivation provides insights into the physical origin of the structure of quantum state spaces (including a group-theoretic explanation of the Bloch ball and its three dimensionality) and suggests several natural possibilities to construct consistent modifications of QT.
We present a group-theoretic reconstruction of quantum mechanics in which the standard formalism emerges from the representation theory of symmetry groups rather than being introduced axiomatically. Starting from physically motivated symmetry principles, we show how the conventional postulates of quantum mechanics including the Hilbert space structure of states, observables as generators of symmetry transformations, the Born probability rule, unitary time evolution, the composition of multipartite systems, and the measurement framework can be recovered within a unified representation-theoretic framework. We then examine the measurement problem by interpreting wave-function collapse as the scattering of quantum states, thereby providing an account of the apparent loss of information. Finally, we investigate the origin of Planck's constant, proposing that it arises as the conserved charge of the Lorentz symmetry group. In this formulation, ℏ\hbarℏ is an invariant that relates Lie algebra generators to observable quantities and fixes the scale of quantum action. This framework offers a conceptually unified perspective on the foundations of quantum mechanics, connecting its postulates, measurement theory, and the emergence of the quantum of action to a common symmetry-based origin while identifying conditions under which the conventional quantum formalism is recovered.
This paper gives interpretation of Quantum Mechanics (QM) by redefining the theory using 3 new postulates. The first of these postulates specifies the underlying structure that every massive fundamental particle must possess. The mass-Energy equivalence and wave nature of matter emerge as a direct consequence. The second postulate describes the quantum state of particles. Wave function, its conjugate, Born interpretation and the Energy-momentum operators can be derived from these two postulates. The third postulate describes the effect of measurement and interaction on the wave function. The equations of QM starting from Schrodinger’s equation are described. The phenomenon of Quantum entanglement and Schrodinger’s cat thought experiment are described under this interpretation. Finally, the origin of spin resulting from the first postulate is discussed.
Quantum mechanics is defined here as the theoretical framework crystallised at the fifth Solvay Conference of 1927, comprising five postulates: the wavefunction, the canonical commutation relation [x, p] = iℏ, the Born rule, the Schrödinger equation, and the transition probability rule. We present a complete derivation of all five Solvay postulates from purely classical foundations, starting from the directly observable Coulomb field of the electron. The single empirical input is ℏ—measured from pre-Solvay experiments (Planck 1900–1911, Einstein 1905, Casimir 1948/Lamoreaux 1997) without quantum mechanical interpretation, in the same way G was measured by Cavendish (1798) without general relativity. By Einstein’s photoelectric theory (1905) generalized to all electromagnetic fields, the Coulomb field energy is carried in electromagnetic quanta, each carrying both electric and magnetic fields with energy density ϵ0E^2. Lorentz invariance uniquely determines the ZPF spectral energy density u(ω) ∝ ω^3 (Boyer 1969, 1975). The Casimir force measurement gives the total ZPF energy per mode B = ℏ; classical E/B equipartition from Maxwell’s equations gives the electric energy per mode ℏω/2. The central original contribution is the physical justification of the Compton frequency cutoff ωc = mc^2/ℏ: an electron cannot emit an electromagnetic quantum with energy exceeding mc^2, because the residual electron would require negative mass, never observed in nature. By equating two independent expressions for the momentum variance of the ZPF-driven harmonic oscillator—one from the Abraham–Lorentz equation, one from Nelson’s osmotic velocity formula—D = ℏ/2m is derived without any quantum assumption. The ZPF-driven motion is then proved to be Brownian motion in the precise sense of Wiener (1923): all four Wiener conditions are verified from the properties of the ZPF established in Sections 3–4. This answers the question Nelson (1966) explicitly left open: “We do not attempt to give a physical explanation of why the electron should undergo Brownian motion.” The physical explanation is that the electron cannot escape its own Coulomb field. By Itô’s stochastic calculus and Nelson’s theorem, this gives the Schrödinger equation as an effective description valid for timescales Δt ≫ ℏ/mc^2. The transformation ψ = √ρe^(iS/ℏ) linearises the nonlinear Fokker–Planck equation, explaining why superposition holds. All five Solvay postulates emerge as consequences of classical physics plus the single measured constant ℏ. No Solvay postulate is assumed anywhere.
The nonlocality of entangled quantum mechanical systems is incompatible with the standard interpretation of special relativity as a single 4D Minkowskian metric spacetime. The difficulty is that the definition of a spacetime interval between any pair of events precludes any form of nonlocal interaction, even the relatively benign non-signaling correlations. By an application of the relativity principle, and the use of the space ←→ time symmetry of the Lorentz boost I propose here a reinterpretation of special relativistic spacetime. This new ontology consists of a set of coexisting 3+1D spaces (‘framespaces’), each containing unique content in the form of a complex density. These spaces are related by the Lorentz boost, and coupled pairwise in a manner dictated by the Lorentz transformation. The inter-space coupling acting on the spacetime content gives rise to a nonlocal wave phenomenon, which is identified as quantum wave mechanics. The interspace coupling strength is then inversely proportional to Planck’s constant. The coexistence of multiple spaces is interpreted as momentum superposition, implying that momentum is the fundamental physical basis of quantum superposition. This new spacetime interpretation of quantum mechanics has many consequences, including explanations of quantum non-locality, the spacetime role of Planck’s constant, quantum measurement as a symmetry-breaking process and the redundancy of description of gauge theory.