<blockquote id="quote"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Michiel</i>
In the double slit experiment we see a wave which is clearly spread out (hence the interference), but when it hits the screen the energy is transferred to a small dot, with always the same intensity.
I can't think of a way to explain that in terms of oceanic waves.
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Sometimes, the oceanic waves break the boats...
In electromagnetism, the energy in a mode has a minimal value,<b> in the average</b> equal to hf/2 (f: frequency). Following Einstein (1917), the energy in the mode may be increased (of decreased, if possible) of hf.
A good, cold photocell is excited (an atom performs a transition) by the fluctuations of the zero point energy (noise).
If an atom emits hf, the ZPF is increased over hf/2, the probability of exciting an atom of the cell in increased.
It is fundamental to understand that the energy used to excite an atom comes only <b>partly</b> from the source. The ZPF is a thermodynamical bath.
The problem is different for the particles, because the existence of a definite particle (centre...) requires a nonlinear wave equation, so that the particle is a soliton.
Where the field is large, the nonlinearity is large, this large field is stable and is the particle; in this region, the field is de Broglie's "u" field. Far from this region, the field is, with a good approximation linear, it is the "psi" field. The separation of the field into u and psi is somewhat artificial, but may be modelled by an attraction of the u by the psi (showed by the equations, with exceptions at short distance). The psi is split by slits, while u is transmitted by one of the slits. Beyond the slits, psi interferes, and the maximals of psi attract u, that is the particle.
