Fields and Their Quanta

Quantum physics is the most comprehensive scientific theory of all time, yet its foundations have been mired in confusion since the dawn of the twentieth century. We are still unable to find consensus about wave-particle duality, the double-slit experiment, quantum randomness, entanglement, superpositions, and the measurement problem. That is, we disagree about what quantum physics means. Physicists need to get their act together! This book presents a resolution of these problems, based on the quantum field theory insight that reality comprises a set of universal quantized fields that fill the universe. An immediate consequence is that there are no particles; objects (properly called "quanta") such as photons and electrons are highly unified spatially extended bundles of field energy. As Steven Weinberg puts it, "particles are derivative phenomena." This view immediately resolves, for example, the puzzle of the double-slit experiment. As this book shows, we can dispense with the diverse interpretations such as consciousness-based views, the many worlds view, and the Copenhagen view that there is no quantum world. Quantum physics can thus return to being a normal scientific endeavor with no special interpretation outside of standard (since Copernicus) scientific realism; this is the view that nature exists on its own with no need for observers.