Fast Vacuum Fluctuations and the Emergence of Quantum Mechanics

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how classical systems with fast variables can produce quantum mechanical behavior, explaining the emergence of quantum effects from classical ontological models and resolving related paradoxes.

Contribution

It introduces a model where fast classical variables generate quantum effects, showing how quantum mechanics can emerge from classical, ontologically evolving systems.

Findings

Fast variables remain in their ground state due to state smearing.

Quantum interference effects can be simulated in classical computer models.

The model resolves the quantum-classical paradox in ontological systems.

Abstract

Fast moving classical variables can generate quantum mechanical behavior. We demonstrate how this can happen in a model. The key point is that in classically (ontologically) evolving systems one can still define a conserved quantum energy. For the fast variables, the energy levels are far separated, such that one may assume these variables to stay in their ground state. This forces them to be entangled, so that, consequently, the slow variables are entangled as well. The fast variables could be the vacuum fluctuations caused by unknown super heavy particles. The emerging quantum effects in the light particles are expressed by a Hamiltonian that can have almost any form. The entire system is ontological, and yet allows one to generate interference effects in computer models. This seemed to lead to an unsolvable paradox, which is now resolved: exactly what happens in our models if we run a quantum interference experiment in a classical computer is explained. The restriction that very fast variables stay predominantly in their ground state appears to be due to smearing of the physical states in the time direction, preventing their direct detection. Discussions are added of the emergence of quantum mechanics, and the ontology of an EPR/Bell Gedanken experiment.