Role of the Electromagnetic Vacuum in the Transition from Classical to Quantum Mechanics

Foundations of Physics 52 (4):1-17 (2022)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

We revisit the nonrelativistic problem of a bound, charged particle subject to the random zero-point radiation field, with the purpose of revealing the mechanism that takes it from the initially classical description to the final quantum-mechanical one. The combined effect of the zpf and the radiation reaction force results, after a characteristic time lapse, in the loss of the initial conditions and the concomitant irreversible transition of the dynamics to a stationary regime controlled by the field. In this regime, the canonical variables x, p become expressed in terms of the dipolar response functions to a set of field modes. A proper ordering of the response coefficients leads to the matrix representation of quantum mechanics, as was proposed in the early days of the theory, and to the basic commutator x^,p^=iħ\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\left[ {\hat{x}},{\hat{p}}\right] =i\hbar $$\end{document}. Further, the connection with the corresponding Fokker–Planck equation valid in the Markov approximation, allows one to obtain the radiative corrections of qed. These results reaffirm the essentially electrodynamic and stochastic nature of the quantum phenomenon, as proposed by stochastic electrodynamics.

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 98,169

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Isomorphic and strongly connected components.Miloš S. Kurilić - 2015 - Archive for Mathematical Logic 54 (1-2):35-48.
Maximally embeddable components.Miloš S. Kurilić - 2013 - Archive for Mathematical Logic 52 (7-8):793-808.
Minimal elementary end extensions.James H. Schmerl - 2017 - Archive for Mathematical Logic 56 (5-6):541-553.

Analytics

Added to PP
2022-07-27

Downloads
16 (#1,075,308)

6 months
6 (#743,766)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

References found in this work

Quantum ontology without speculation.Matthias Egg - 2021 - European Journal for Philosophy of Science 11 (1):1-26.
Quantum Mechanics. Historical Contingency and the Copenhagen Hegemony.James T. Cushing - 1996 - Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 27 (2):353-358.

View all 8 references / Add more references