The Quantum as an Emergent System

TL;DR

This paper presents a classical, emergent system model for quantum phenomena, explaining interference and nonlocal effects through thermal vacuum fluctuations and path excitation fields, challenging the purely quantum view.

Contribution

It introduces a classical oscillator-based model with zero-point vacuum interactions to explain quantum interference and nonlocality as emergent phenomena.

Findings

Reproduces double slit interference patterns

Derives particle trajectories from classical fields

Shows phase relations cause nonlocal effects

Abstract

Double slit interference is explained with the aid of what we call "21stcentury classical physics". We model a particle as an oscillator ("bouncer") in a thermal context, which is given by some assumed "zero-point" field of the vacuum. In this way, the quantum is understood as an emergent system, i.e., a steady-state system maintained by a constant throughput of (vacuum) energy. To account for the particle's thermal environment, we introduce a "path excitation field", which derives from the thermodynamics of the zero-point vacuum and which represents all possible paths a particle can take via thermal path fluctuations. The intensity distribution on a screen behind a double slit is calculated, as well as the corresponding trajectories and the probability density current. Further, particular features of the relative phase are shown to be responsible for nonlocal effects not only in ordinary quantum theory, but also in our classical approach.