A Classical Quantum Theory of Light

The Zitterbewegung model of an electron offers a classical interpretation for interference and diffraction of electrons. The idea is very intuitive because it incorporates John Wheeler’s idea of mass without mass: we have an indivisible naked charge that has no properties but its charge and its size (the classical electron radius) and it is easy to understand that the electromagnetic oscillation that keeps this tiny circular current going – like a perpetual current ring in some superconducting material – cannot be separated from it. In contrast, we keep wondering: what keeps a photon together? Hence, the real challenge for any realist interpretation of quantum mechanics is to explain the quantization of light: what are these photons? In this paper, we offer a classical quantum theory for light. The intuition behind the model is the same as the one we developed for an electron: we think of the photon as a harmonic electromagnetic oscillator, and its elementary cycle determines its properties, including spin and its size (the effective area of interference).