Holten, van, Theo. The Atomic World Spooky? It Ain't Necessarily So!: Emergent Quantum Mechanics, How the Classical Laws of Nature Can Conspire to Cause Quantum-Like Behaviour

Atlantis Press, 2017. —566 p. — ISBN: 9462392331The present book takes the discovery that quantum-like behaviour is not solely reserved to atomic particles one step further. If electrons are modelled as vibrating droplets instead of the usually assumed point objects, and if the classical laws of nature are applied, then exactly the same behaviour as in quantum theory is found, quantitatively correct! The world of atoms is strange and quantum mechanics, the theory of this world, is almost magic. Or is it? Tiny droplets of oil bouncing round on a fluid surface can also mimic the world of quantum mechanics. For the layman - for whom the main part of this book is written - this is good news. If the everyday laws of nature can conspire to show up quantum-like phenomena, there is hope to form mental pictures how the atomic world works.
The book is almost formula-free, and explains everything by using many sketches and diagrams. The mathematical derivations underlying the main text are kept separate in a -peer reviewed - appendix.
The author, a retired professor of Flight Mechanics and Propulsion at the Delft University of Technology, chose to publish his findings in this mixed popular and scientific form, because he found that interested laymen more often than professional physicists feel the need to form visualisations of quantum phenomena.Introduction and Outline
Strange Behaviour at Quantum Scale: The Full List
The Transition Region as Predicted by Quantum Mechanics
From Rigid Marble to Vibrating Droplet of Charge: Model Assumptions
Determining the Electromagnetic Self Forces
A Brief Excursion to Sub-atomic Scales: The Electron, the Muon and the Tau Particle
Dynamics of the Droplet: A Pictorial Representation of the Equations of Motion
First Glimpses of Quantum Behaviour: Matter Waves
Energy Quantisation in Potential Wells
Still More (Non)Glimpses: The Droplet Is Sometimes Invisible
Schrödinger’s Equation
On Radiation and Radio Silence; Interaction Between Charges and Radiation
On Bohr’s Radiation “Out of Nothing”, and On Photons, the “Particles With a Wavelength”
Summing Up the Successes and the Remaining Mysteries
A Chapter Full of Speculations: Bohr’s Atom, Schrödinger’s Cat, “Spooky” Interactions, and the Double-Slit
Conclusions: The Direction Towards Einstein’s “Hidden Variable”?
Appendixes
General
Matched Asymptotic Expansion Procedure (Principles)
The Potential Fields of a Moving Point Charge
Self Forces on a Droplet of Charge (Translation Direction)
Squeezing Self Forces (Pulsation)
The Equations of Motion and Their Solution
De Broglie’s Formula and Planck’s Constant: the Concept of Photons
The Droplet of Charge Within a Potential Well: Energy Quantisation
Miscellaneous Subjects
The Radiation Field
Combining the Droplet’s Motion and the Radiation Field: Bohr’s Radio Silence