This project proposes an alternative ontological interpretation of the double-slit experiment, arguing that photons exist in a singularity-like wave state prior to interaction. The transition to particle behavior occurs not through measurement, but due to physical conditions such as energy attenuation or medium traversal. This theory offers testable predictions via a modified double-slit setup, challenging the standard observer-centric interpretations of quantum mechanics.
This project proposes an alternative ontological interpretation of the double-slit experiment, arguing that photons exist in a singularity-like wave state prior to interaction. The transition to particle behavior occurs not through measurement, but due to physical conditions such as energy attenuation or medium traversal. This theory offers testable predictions via a modified double-slit setup, challenging the standard observer-centric interpretations of quantum mechanics.
The double-slit experiment has stood for a century as the paradigmatic demonstration of quantum superposition: the standard interpretation holds that a particle passes through both slits simultaneously, existing in a superposition of two spatially separated states. This paper proposes a physically distinct alternative: the particle's matter wave — a real physical wave propagating through space in accordance with de Broglie's relation λ = h/p — passes through both slits, while the particle itself (matter) remains in an undetermined state until a constructive interference maximum is formed at the detection screen. The particle does not simultaneously occupy two locations; the wave does. This distinction eliminates the need for superposition as an ontological commitment while fully reproducing the observed interference pattern. We further show that the disappearance of the interference pattern upon which-path measurement is explained without invoking wavefunction collapse: the measurement interaction redirects the matter wave to a single-slit geometry, eliminating the two-wave interference condition. Three experimentally testable predictions distinguish this framework from the standard interpretation: (1) weak-measurement trajectory reconstruction should reveal single particle paths inconsistent with simultaneous two-slit passage; (2) diffraction fringe spacing should depend on the mass density of the slit material, because denser slit edges generate a steeper refractive-index gradient for the matter wave; (3) the fringe pattern should exhibit a density-dependent phase shift measurable with current matter-wave interferometry technology. This reinterpretation requires no new mathematical formalism — the Schrödinger equation and Born's rule are retained — but replaces the ontological claim of simultaneous multi-location existence with the physically consistent picture of matter-wave propagation through an undetermined-state particle.
We propose an ontological reinterpretation of the quantum measurement problem using a process based framework. The photon is not treated as a particle or wave, but as a metastable process capable of transforming into multiple physical forms (thermal, electrical, chemical, or mechani- cal). The double slit experiment is reinterpreted as a spatially distributed process whose trans formation is either deferred to the detection screen or forced earlier by measurement near the slits. Interference arises not from wave behavior but from delayed transformation. Measurement corresponds to an ontological phase transition of the process, not to information acquisition or wavefunction collapse. It does not replace the standard quantum formalism, but offers an alternative ontological interpretation of it. Formally, this framework is expressed as a formal ontological schema articulated via primitive processual operators of differentiation, fixation, and dissipation (diff/fix/diss), rather than as a predictive mathematical formalism. This approach reframes the ontological basis of the measurement problem, eliminates observer-dependence, and aligns quantum phenomena with general principles of dissipative process ontology.
Diffraction and interference fringes are stable and reproducible objective phenomena in optical experiments. Mainstream quantum mechanics puts forward the ontological interpretation of wave particle duality. It holds that the material ontology of micro particles such as photons inherently possesses both particle and wave properties, and attributes diffraction and interference phenomena directly to the intrinsic matter wave behavior of particles. This interpretation stays at the level of observational appearance and avoids underlying ontological dynamic mechanisms. It represents a research approach that deduces the intrinsic properties of material ontology merely from external observations. Within the framework of the light ontology theory, a photon is an energy state object. Energy and motion at the speed of light form an inseparable whole and are permanently bound together and cannot be separated. In the real universe, no photon with energy that does not travel at the speed of light has ever been observed. Nor has any object moving at the speed of light without energy been detected. The two cannot exist independently from one another. A photon has no physical volume but possesses inherent fixed transverse trembling property. At the moment a photon is generated, it acquires a definite trembling angle within a 360 degree spatial plane perpendicular to its propagation direction. This transverse trembling orientation remains unchanged without physical collision interaction. When the transverse trembling of a photon can reach the slit wall, absorption and reradiation secondary scattering will occur. Massive secondary photons superpose statistically to form bright and dark diffraction and interference fringes. Slit walls are stacked by large numbers of atoms. Their spatial scale is hundreds of thousands to tens of millions times larger than the scale of photon transverse trembling. For photons, slit walls constitute huge physical barriers and can produce significant interactions with trembling photons. The wave function is only a mathematical tool for fitting experimental data. Good fitting performance of a mathematical model does not mean its corresponding physical interpretation equals objective physical reality. This paper proposes a new set of comparative decisionmaking experiments. The key innovation is to place a linear polarizer in front of the slit. Before photons contact the slit, the transverse trembling orientation of photons is pre screened. The transverse trembling direction of transmitted photons is made parallel to the orientation of vertical slit walls to suppress oscillation components perpendicular to slit walls and make it difficult for photons to hit slit walls. Polarizers with different grating line widths can be replaced to observe the influence of the grating scale of polarizers on experimental results. According to the physical mechanism of slit wall scattering, characteristic diffraction and interference fringes will be greatly attenuated and only the central direct light spot will remain. Non ideal device characteristics will bring a small amount of stray scattering background, but complete bright and dark diffraction and interference structures will not appear. According to the traditional ontological interpretation of wave particle duality, the geometric parameters of slits remain completely unchanged. Only polarization orientation screening is conducted and the intrinsic matter wave of particle ontology is not affected. Therefore diffraction and interference fringes should be fully preserved. The two theories produce mutually exclusive observable predictions. This experiment can test whether the ontological interpretation of wave particle duality holds true. This paper does not deny objective diffraction and interference phenomena, nor does it deny the practical value of wave function as an engineering calculation tool.
This work proposes a minimal ontological framework for interpreting wave–particle duality as a boundary-sensitive manifestation of quantum phenomena on an underlying, physically real but unobservable background. Rather than treating wave-like and particle-like behaviors as competing physical entities, the framework interprets them as distinct modes of manifestation determined by global boundary conditions. Motivated by interference experiments such as the double-slit setup, the study argues that experimental outcomes depend on boundary-induced modifications of a background structure beyond the local particle path. Within this view, wave-like interference corresponds to a nonlocal manifestation shaped by boundary conditions, while particle-like detection corresponds to localized manifestation events at measurement. The proposed interpretation preserves the standard quantum formalism while offering a realist, boundary-centered conceptual perspective that avoids observer-dependent collapse or multi-path particle propagation. The manuscript is provided as a preprint to invite open scientific discussion and critical evaluation.
This article reconsiders the double-slit experiment by establishing a new type of relationship between it and the concept of entanglement. While the role of entanglement in the double-slit experiment has been considered, this particular relationship appears to have been missed in preceding discussions of the experiment, even by Bohr, who extensively used it to support his argument concerning quantum physics. The main reason for this relationship is the different roles of the diaphragm with slits in two setups, S1 and S2, defining the double-slit experiment as a quantum experiment. In S1, in each individual run of the experiment one can in principle (even if not actually) know throughout which slit the quantum object considered has passed; in S2 this knowledge is in principle impossible, which impossibility is coextensive with the appearance of the interference pattern, once a sufficient number of individual runs of the experiment have taken place. The article offers the following argument based on two new concepts, an "experimentally quantum object" and an "ontologically quantum object." In S1 the diaphragm can be treated as part of an observational arrangement and thus considered as a classical object, while the object passing through one or the other slit is considered as an "ontologically quantum object," defined as an object necessary to establish a quantum phenomenon. By contrast, in S2, the diaphragm can, via the concept of Heisenberg-von-Neumann cut, be treated as an "experimentally quantum object," defined as an object treatable by quantum theory, even while possibly being an ontologically classical object. This interaction is not an observation but a quantum entanglement between these two quantum objects, one ontologically and one experimentally quantum. This argument is grounded in a particular interpretation of quantum phenomena and quantum theory, which belongs to the class of interpretations designated here as "reality without realism" (RWR) interpretations. The article also argues that wave-particle complementarity, with which the concept of complementarity is often associated, plays little, if any, role in quantum physics, or in Bohr's thinking, and may be misleading in considering the double-slit experiment, often explained by using this complementarity.
This paper proposes a physically grounded interpretation of quantum measurement in which superposition is the natural state of isolated systems, while particle-like outcomes arise from inevitable physical interactions with the environment or measuring devices. The approach retains the standard mathematical formalism of quantum mechanics but reorganizes its conceptual structure to place interaction—understood as the exchange of energy, momentum, or information—at the center of the measurement process. It offers a unified explanation of the double-slit, delayed-choice, and quantum-eraser experiments, and suggests experimentally testable ways to link interaction strength to decoherence and the emergence of classicality.