Organizing Institutions:
Heinz von Foerster Gesellschaft / Wien
ASC – American Society for Cybernetics
WISDOM – Wiener Institut für
  sozialwissenschaftliche Dokumentation und Methodik
Institut für Zeitgeschichte | Universität Wien
AINS – Austrian Institute for Nonlinear Studies

Theo M. Nieuwenhuizen

Elements of a sub-quantum theory

Institute for Theoretical Physics
University of Amsterdam
The Netherlands

From a solution of the dynamics of a quantum measurement [1] it has arisen that the statistical interpretation of quantum mechanics is the minimal one. This puts forward the question: the statistics of what? The most natural answer is: of an underlying reality, in which events happen one by one.

In this setup there are two main questions: what are particles and why does their interaction lead at the statistical level to quantum theory?

Some encouragement can be gotten from a study of the relativistic hydrogen atom along a classical viewpoint [2]. The square-root formula for the energy spectrum can be reproduced by assuming a factorization of averages of products of certain fluctuating quantities.

Within the known theories of Nature, the most promising description of the electron involves a Kerr-Newmann black hole. This has spin 1/2 properties and a gyromagnetic factor 2, though it is not known how the mass and charge can be stabilized at the values of the electron. Its neutral version may describe neutrinos and a spin-1 description for photons may also exist.
For the electron it can be concluded that its charge is located on an infinitely thin disk with Compton radius. We propose that there is a finite length scale related to its thickness, and either a connection to the weak or even strong force, or new force of Nature, that describes the smearing of the surface charge.

One theory that aims to describe how these solutions interact is Stochastic Electrodynamics. Recent progress in this field is presented by Ana Maria Cetto at this meeting.

[1] Armen E. Allahverdyan, Roger Balian, Theo M. Nieuwenhuizen,
Understanding quantum measurement from the solution of dynamical models,
arXiv:1107.2138

[2] Theo M. Nieuwenhuizen,
Classical Phase Space Density for the Relativistic Hydrogen Atom,
quant-ph/0511144