Physical interpretation of Planck's constant based on the Maxwell theory

The discovery of the Planck relation is generally regarded as the starting point of quantum physics.Planck＇s constant h is now regarded as one of the most important universal constants.The physical nature of h,however,has not been well understood.It was originally suggested as a fitting constant to explain the black-body radiation.Although Planck had proposed a theoretical justification of h,he was never satisfied with that.To solve this outstanding problem,we use the Maxwell theory to directly calculate the energy and momentum of a radiation wave packet.We find that the energy of the wave packet is indeed proportional to its oscillation frequency.This allows us to derive the value of Planck＇s constant.Furthermore,we show that the emission and transmission of a photon follows the all-or-none principle.The ＂strength＂ of the wave packet can be characterized by ζ,which represents the integrated strength of the vector potential along a transverse axis.We reason that ζ should have a fixed cut-off value for all photons.Our results suggest that a wave packet can behave like a particle.This offers a simple explanation to the recent satellite observations that the cosmic microwave background follows closely the black-body radiation as predicted by Planck＇s law.

Study on the Physical Basis of Wave-Particle Duality: Modelling the Vacuum as a Continuous Mechanical Medium

One great surprise discovered in modern physics is that all elementary particles exhibit the property of wave-particle duality. We investigated this problem recently and found a simple way to explain this puzzle. We proposed that all particles, including massless particles such as photon and massive particles such as electron, can be treated as excitation waves in the vacuum, which behaves like a physical medium. Using such a model, the phenomenon of wave-particle duality can be explained naturally. The key question now is to find out what kind of physical properties this vacuum medium may have. In this paper, we investigate if the vacuum can be modeled as an elastic solid or a dielectric medium as envisioned in the Maxwell theory of electricity and magnetism. We show that a similar form of wave equation can be derived in three cases: (1) By modelling the vacuum medium as an elastic solid;(2) By constructing a simple Lagrangian density that is a 3-D extension of a stretched string or a vibrating membrane;(3) By assuming that the vacuum is a dielectric medium, from which the wave equation can be derived directly from Maxwell’s equations. Similarity between results of these three systems suggests that the vacuum can be modelled as a mechanical continuum, and the excitation wave in the vacuum behaves like some of the excitation waves in a physical medium.

Why Energy and Mass Can Be Converted between Each Other? A New Perspective Based on a Matter Wave Model

It was predicted by Einstein that energy and mass can be converted between each other. But why? Energy and mass are two very different physical concepts. How can they be exchanged with each other? We think the key to answer this question is to recall that a particle can behave like a wave. Particle properties like energy and momentum are known to be related to their corresponding wave properties (frequency and wave vector). Mass is clearly a particle property;is it also related to a wave property? This study suggests that it is. We found that mass and energy appear to share similar physical nature in the wave perspective. Both of them are related to the curvature of bending the vacuum medium during the propagation of the excitation wave. This similarity explains why they are convertible.