Quantum phenomena and the zeropoint radiation field

The stationary solutions for a bound electron immersed in the random zeropoint radiation field of stochastic electrodynamics are studied, under the assumption that the characteristic Fourier frequencies of these solutions are not random. Under this assumption, the response of the particle to the field is linear and does not mix frequencies, irrespectively of the form of the binding force; the fluctuations of the random field fix the scale of the response. The effective radiation field that supports the stationary states of motion is no longer the free vacuum field, but a modified form of it with new statistical properties. The theory is expressed naturally in terms of matrices (or operators), and it leads to the Heisenberg equations and the Hilbert space formalism of quantum mechanics in the radiationless approximation. The connection with the poissonian formulation of stochastic electrodynamics is also established. At the end we briefly discuss a few important aspects of quantum mechanics which the present theory helps to clarify.On leave of absence at Mathematics Department, University College London. Gower Street, London WC1, U.K.