Classical sources of non-classical physics: the case of linear superposition

TL;DR

This paper explores how classical wave superposition can be interpreted as a real energy redistribution process, bridging the conceptual gap between classical and quantum superposition and challenging traditional views.

Contribution

It proposes that quantum superposition can be understood as a classical process involving energy redistribution, offering a new interpretive perspective.

Findings

Classical superposition can be viewed as a real energy redistribution.

The traditional illusion interpretation is less consistent with microscopic observations.

A new interpretive framework links classical and quantum superposition.

Abstract

Classical linear wave superposition produces the appearance of interference. This observation can be interpreted in two equivalent ways: one can assume that interference is an illusion because input components remain unperturbed, or that interference is real and input components undergo energy redistribution. Both interpretations entail the same observable consequences at the macroscopic level, but the first approach is considerably more popular. This preference was established before the emergence of quantum mechanics. Unfortunately, it requires a non-classical underlying mechanism and fails to explain well-known microscopic observations. Classical physics appears to collapse at the quantum level. On the other hand, quantum superposition can be described as a classical process if the second alternative is adopted. The gap between classical mechanics and quantum mechanics is an interpretive problem.