Classical theory of the hydrogen atom

TL;DR

This paper proposes that the properties of the hydrogen atom can be explained entirely using classical electrodynamics with an electron wave, challenging the quantum particle model and suggesting continuous energy states.

Contribution

It introduces a classical wave field model of the electron in hydrogen, deriving atomic properties and spontaneous emission phenomena without discrete energy levels.

Findings

All hydrogen atom properties can be described by classical electrodynamics.

No discrete energy levels; energies change continuously.

A nonlinear Schrödinger equation accounts for spontaneous emission.

Abstract

It is shown that all of the basic properties of the hydrogen atom can be consistently described in terms of classical electrodynamics instead of taking the electron to be a particle; we consider an electrically charged classical wave field, an "electron wave", which is held in a limited region of space by the electrostatic field of the proton. It is shown that quantum mechanics must be considered to be not a theory of particles but a classical field theory in the spirit of classical electrodynamics. In this case, we are not faced with difficulties in interpreting the results of the theory. In the framework of classical electrodynamics, all of the well-known regularities of the spontaneous emission of the hydrogen atom are obtained, which is usually derived in the framework of quantum electrodynamics. It is shown that there are no discrete states and discrete energy levels of the atom: the energy of the atom and its states change continuously. An explanation of the conventional corpuscular-statistical interpretation of atomic phenomena is given. It is shown that this explanation is only a misinterpretation of continuous deterministic processes. In the framework of classical electrodynamics, the nonlinear Schrodinger equation is obtained, which accounts for the inverse action of self-electromagnetic radiation of the electron wave and completely describes the spontaneous emissions of an atom.