Stochastic optics: A reaffirmation of the wave nature of light

Abstract

Quantum optics does not give a local explanation of the coincidence counts in spatially separated photodetectors. This is the case ./'or a wide variety of phenomena, including the anticorrelated counting rates in the two channels of a beam splitter, the coincident counting rates of the two "photons" in an atomic cascade, and the "antibunching" observed in resonance fluorescence.We propose a local realist theory that explains all of these data in a consistent manner. The theory uses a completely classical description of the electromagnetic field, but with boundary" conditions of the far field that are equivalent to assuming a real fluctuating, zero-point field. It is related to stochastic electrodynamics similarly to the way classical optics is related to classical electromagnetic theory.The quantitative aspects of the theory are developed sufficiently to show that there is agreement with all experiments performed till now. I N T R O D U C T I O NErwin Schr6dinger must be given a substantial part of the credit for today's renaissance of foundational studies in physics. His famous Cat article (1t was, of course, published in the same year as the Einstein-PodolskyRosen (2) article. While we believe that the EPR paper has given, and will continue to give, greater stimulation to experimental work than Schr6dinger's Cat, it is possible to see, in Schr6dinger's criticism of quantum mechanics, a single consistent theme from 1925 until his death in 1962. This theme is the insistence on realism; if a theory denies microscopic realism, it must also deny macroscopic realism. This is the conclusion of the Cat argument and, by a different route, of the EPR argument also. We

Research on hidden variable theories: A review of recent progresses

“…A more ambitious program was started by a British-Spaniard group with the hope to build a real alternative to Quantum Optics [297,298,299,300,301,302,303]. The main idea was that the probability distribution for the hidden variable is given by the Wigner function, which is positive for photons experiments.…”

Simulation Results Related to Stochastic Electrodynamics

“…Boyer's suggestions involves the Bohm-Aharonov e¤ect [50], [51], [52], [53], [54], [55], [56], [57], [58], [59]. Marshall's experimental suggestions involves work he has advanced with colleagues, particularly E. Santos, in "stochastic optics," aiming in particular at a local model explanation of the Bell inequalities [60], [61]. At the end of the 1990s, Marshall developed with colleagues a local physical explanation of entanglement involving a nonlinear optical process often called spontaneous parametric down conversion [62], [63], [64], [65], [66], [67].…”

Bipartite Entanglement Induced by a Common Background (Zero-Point) Radiation Field

“…The standard nonrelativistic, spin-less quantum formalism resorts in this case to the (anti)symmetric nature of the state vectors as a principle. 10 In contrast, the physics behind the (anti)symmetric postulate is clear within the present approach: being identical and subject to the same potential, the particles share the complete set of common resonance frequencies, whereby their entanglement becomes unavoidable. The condition for maximum entanglement follows from the invariance of the common background field under the exchange of equivalent particles.…”