What is the origin of the quantum wave function? A new model on wave–particle duality

Abstract: A well-known mystery in quantum mechanics is wave–particle duality: Is an electron a point mass or a physical wave? What is the physical meaning of its wave function? About a hundred years ago, there was a famous debate between Bohr and Einstein on this topic. Their question is still open today. This talk reviews a new theoretical framework to address this problem. We hypothesize that both photons and electrons are quantized excitation waves of the vacuum, the physical properties of which can be modeled based on the Maxwell theory. Using the method of Helmholtz decomposition, one can show that the wave function of the particle is associated with an electric vector potential called “ Z”, which plays the role of basic field for the excitation wave. Using this framework, the quantum wave equations can be derived based on a quantization of the Maxwell theory. This work suggests that, the quantum wave function truly represents a physical wave; the wave packet looks like a “particle” only in the macroscopic view. Because the vacuum excitation obeys the principle of all-or-none, the probability of detecting this “particle” is related to the wave function as suggested in the Copenhagen interpretation

mathematical physicsgeneral physicsquantum physics

Audience: researchers in the topic

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QM Foundations & Nature of Time seminar

Series comments: Description: Physics foundations discussion seminar

Current access link in th.if.uj.edu.pl/~dudaj/QMFNoT

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