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This paper provides elements in support of the random zero-point radiation field (ZPF) as an essential ontological ingredient needed to explain distinctive properties of quantum-mechanical systems. We show that when an otherwise classical particle is connected to the ZPF, a drastic, qualitative change in the dynamics takes place, leading eventually to the quantum dynamics...
[An] inspection of the current literature readily reveals the existence of about two dozen different interpretations of QM, some more popular than others, and none of them experimentally verified. How can it be that a fundamental theory that provides the basis for a most significant part of contemporary physics, admits such a variety of alternative, even contradictory interpretations? No serious physicist or philosopher of science in his five senses would claim to come up with a better interpretation of Newtonian mechanics or Maxwellian electrodynamics. Reformulations of a known accepted theory may appear, of course, but fundamental theories do not accept reinterpretations. Special relativity did not reinterpret classical mechanics, it extended mechanics to wider domains, and together with quantum theory helped to specify its range of applicability. We should conclude that in the case of quantum mechanics, such variety of interpretations is indicative of a crucial underdetermination of the theory...
[To] understand the origin of so many different visions about the same fundamental theory, it is convenient to place ourselves in the context in which QM was born. We recall that the quantum formalism—its excellent mathematical apparatus that we still use today with success—was born in the absence of a deep understanding of the quantum phenomenology...
It is against this background that Heisenberg worked on his version of the theory, the matrix mechanics. Heisenberg discovered that the quantum particles have an unavoidable random behavior. Being persuaded of the completeness of his theory, he took this randomness for an essential, irreducible trait that neither needs nor admits a deeper explanation...
Unknowingly, Schrödinger’s wave theory implied the introduction of a new element into the quantum description. The point is that electron interference patterns are produced by the accumulation of a high number of point-like events, each one created by a single electron. A single particle produces an isolated, randomly located bright point on the detecting screen, the interference—the wave manifestation—becoming evident only after very many hits. The conclusion—normally one that goes unnoticed—is that Schrödinger’s wave function refers not to a single particle, but to an ensemble of them. Well interpreted, Schrödinger theory is intrinsically statistical in nature, and deals with ensembles rather than individual particles. Nevertheless, the statistical perspective of the quantum phenomenon was dismissed in general—and adamantly opposed by the Copenhagen school in particular, which prevails to date under different guises.. This opened the door to another infelicitous ingredient, the observer. The introduction of an active character in order to ’explain’ the reduction of the distinctive quantum mixtures to the pure states observed, added a subjective ingredient to the already odd quantum scheme. All in all, such variety of interpretations and re-interpretations indicates that something of importance is missing in the theory. Having so many variations indicates that the issue is actually not one of interpretation, but of an essential incompleteness. The absence of an appropriate guiding ontological element has turned the physical situation into a mystery...
However, rather than [an] incompletenesses.. we are referring to an essential ingredient that is missing. The point is that whatever is to be added to the incomplete theoretical framework should be able to address simultaneously some of its main puzzles, including not just the nature of quantum fluctuations; atomic stability, quantum transitions, discrete atomic spectra, wavelike phenomena and the like should find their natural explanation in a coherent scheme.
The present paper is one of a series that deals with the development of stochastic electrodynamics (SED) as a physical foundation for quantum mechanics. In previous work we have shown that, by including the zero-point radiation field (ZPF), SED allows us to arrive at a consistent description of the stationary states and to derive the (nonrelativistic) radiative corrections proper for QED.
The Quantum Dice
Let us consider a box that is divided into two smaller equal boxes L and R by means of a movable wall. Assume that inside the big box there is a (single) particle... We ask a simple question: Where is the particle? Even though it would be difficult to pose a simpler question, physicists are imaginative enough as to have begotten a full range of answers to it; however, since our interest lies in the fundamental content of those answers, we may abstract the details and reduce them to just the two that catch the main tendencies. So, where is the particle?..
The conventional description [is this] basic tenet of the conventional interpretation of quantum mechanics is that the wave function affords a complete description of each individual system... this means that the wave function refers to the one particle inside the big box and the answer to the above question depends on whether we have observed the interior or not. Previous to any observation the state is completely described by stating that the probability of the particle being in any of the two boxes L or R is $\frac{1}{2}$; there is no more to that. Thus, the particle is in a state of indeterminate localization (delocalized) in the big box. By looking inside (making a measurement to know its whereabouts) we perturb the system and bring it into a new state, (objectively) localized either in box L or in box R. The transformation of the wave function from the (pre-observation) indeterminate localization state to the (post-observation) determinate state constitutes the reduction or collapse of the wave function, brought about by the observation. Whether the particle ends up in box L or in box R after the measurement, is a matter of chance.
The assumption that the wave function refers to a single system thus has enormous consequences. Quantities such as $\Delta x$ (uncertainties in the conventional language) become objective restrictions on the localization of the particle, meaning that there exist intrinsic limitations on the corresponding measurements. So, quantum mechanics goes as far as is possible and physicists must renounce once and for all the hope for a detailed description of the individual. Further, since the concept of probability is being applied to a single event and no sample space can be constructed, there is no consistent way of viewing the result as a property of the system, and it must be interpreted as an uncertainty of our knowledge. The observer slips thus into the description, and the fundamental principle that physics refers to the world rather than to our knowledge of it, is eroded"
The Emerging Quantum
[In] 1963.. physicist Trevor Marshall published a paper in the Proceedings of the Royal Society under the short title Random Electrodynamics—an intriguing title, at that time. To date this paper has received just over four citations per year, which means it is alive, but not as present as it could be, considering the perspectives it opened for theoretical physics. Shortly thereafter a related paper was published by..Timothy Boyer, under the longer title Quantum Electromagnetic Zero-Point Energy and Retarded Dispersion Forces. Boyer does not cite Marshall’s paper (although he does so in his third paper, which is followed by a productive 50-year long work in solitary), but instead he refers to the work of David Kershaw and Edward Nelson on stochastic quantum mechanics. All these papers share a central feature: they are based on conceiving quantum mechanics as a stochastic process. Marshall mentions explicitly the existence of a real, space-filling radiation zero-point field as the source of stochasticity. Boyer sees a deep truth in this, and in a note added to his manuscript he comments that '...in this sense, quantum motions are experimental evidence for zero-point radiation.'
From a historical perspective, we recall.. in 1916.. Nernst had proposed to consider atomic stability as experimental evidence for Planck’s recently discovered zero-point radiation. This visionary idea was largely ignored by the founders of quantum mechanics.. such is history. Both Marshall and Boyer succeed in demonstrating that some quantum phenomena can indeed be understood by the simple expedient of adding this random zero-point field to the corresponding classical description. Their pioneering work was soon followed by that of other colleagues, moved by the conviction that the random zero-point field has something important to tell us about quantum mechanics. Many other results have been obtained during this period, which constitute the essence of the theory largely known under the name of stochastic electrodynamics. At the same time, other researchers, notably Nelson, dedicated their efforts to develop the phenomenological stochastic theory of quantum mechanics. The perception that quantumness and stochasticity are but two different aspects of a reality, started to gain support from several sides"