Locus model for space-time fabric and quantum indeterminacies

A simple locus model for the space-time fabric is presented and is compared with quantum foam and random walk models. The induced indeterminacies in momentum are calculated and it is shown that these space-time fabric indeterminacies are, in most cases, negligible compared with the quantum mechanical indeterminacies. This result restricts the possibilities of an experimental observation of the space-time fabric

Do we finally understand Quantum Mechanics?

The ontology emerging from quantum field theory and the results following from Bell's theorems allowed the development of an intuitive picture of the microscopic world described by quantum mechanics, that is, we can say that we understand this theory. However there remain several aspects of it that are still mysterious and require more work on the foundations of quantum mechanics.Comment: small corrections and improvements adde

Quantum stochastic processes in two dimensional space-time

Several stochastic processes with virtual particles in two dimensional space-time are presented whose mean field equations coincide with Schr\"odinger, Dirac, Klein-Gordon and the quantum mechanic equation for a photon. These processes could be used to detect discrete space-time features at the Planck scale.Comment: replacement including photon QM equatio

The position-momentum symmetry principle

It is shown that the Fourier transformation that relates position and momentum representations of quantum mechanics can be understood as a consequence of a symmetry principle that establishes the equivalence of being and becoming in the description of reality. There are however other transformation compatible with the same principle that could lead to different formalisms of quantum mechanics

Relativity of representations in quantum mechanics

Only the position representation is used in introductory quantum mechanics and the momentum representation is not usually presented until advanced undergraduate courses. To emphasize the relativity of the representations of the abstract formulation of quantum mechanics, two examples of representations related to the operators aX+(1-a)P and (XP+PX)/2 are presented.Comment: 10 pages, no figures, accepted in Am.J.Phy

Understanding light quanta: The Photon

An antisymmetric tensor, the photon tensor, is defined for the description of the photon as a massless relativistic particle. The photon can be visualized as an essentially two dimensional rotating object. The quantum mechanical description of a single photon is presented and it is shown that it is wrong to associate the quantum states of a photon with the macroscopic electromagnetic fields. This work is part of a series devoted to the attempt to understand the quantum of electromagnetic radiation, based on the assumption that the photons are the primary ontology and that the electromagnetic fields are macroscopic emergent properties of an ensemble of photons.Comment: minor corrections, references adde

Understanding light quanta:Construction of the free electromagnetic field

The free electromagnetic field, solution of Maxwell's equations and carrier of energy, momentum and spin, is construed as an emergent collective property of an ensemble of photons, and with this, the consistency of an interpretation that considers that the photons, and not the electromagnetic fields, are the primary ontology is established.Comment: Continuation of quant-ph/0410171 and quant-ph/0410179 Comment added and references update

A quantum arrow of time

It is shown that position-momentum correlation is never decreasing and therefore it is a good candidate as a quantum arrow of time devoid of shortcomings of other proposals

The quantum field theory interpretation of quantum mechanics

It is shown that adopting the \emph{Quantum Field} ---extended entity in space-time build by dynamic appearance propagation and annihilation of virtual particles--- as the primary ontology the astonishing features of quantum mechanics can be rendered intuitive. This interpretation of quantum mechanics follows from the formalism of the most successful theory in physics: quantum field theory

Quantum state reconstruction from dynamical systems theory

When an informationally incomplete set of observables is considered there are several solutions to the quantum state reconstruction problem using von Neumann measurements. The set of solutions are known as Pauli partners, which are not easy to find even numerically. We present, in a self-contained paper, a new way to find this solutions using the physical imposition operator. We show that every Pauli partner is an attractive fixed point of this operator, which means that we can find complete sets of Pauli partners very efficiently. As a particular case, we found numerically 24 mutually unbiased bases in dimension N=23 in less than 30 seconds in a standard PC. We hope that the algorithm presented can be adapted to construct MU Constellations, SIC-POVMs, Equiangular Tight Frames and Quantum t-Designs, which could open new possibilities to find numerical solutions to these open problems related with quantum information theory.Comment: A completely new paper has been written with the same aim of this work. See D. Goyeneche, A.C. de la Torre "Quantum tomography meets dynamical systems and bifurcations theory