Derivation of quantum mechanics from stochastic electrodynamics

Abstract

From the equation of motion for a radiating charged particle embedded in the zero‐point radiation field we construct a stochastic Liouville equation which serves to derive, by a smoothing process, a Fokker–Planck‐type equation with infinite memory. We show that an exact alternative form of this phase‐space equation is the Schrödinger equation in configuration space, with radiative corrections. In the asymptotic, radiationless limit (when the radiative corrections became negligible), the phase‐space density reduces to Wigner’s distribution, thus confirming Weyl’s rule of correspondence. We briefly discuss several other implications of stochastic electrodynamics which are relevant for quantum theory in general.