An Ontological Interpretation of Photon Wave-Particle Duality via Complex-Space Trajectories
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Quantum Physics arXiv:2601.20872 (quant-ph) [Submitted on 18 Jan 2026] Title:An Ontological Interpretation of Photon Wave-Particle Duality via Complex-Space Trajectories Authors:Shiang-Yi Han, Ciann-Dong Yang View a PDF of the paper titled An Ontological Interpretation of Photon Wave-Particle Duality via Complex-Space Trajectories, by Shiang-Yi Han and Ciann-Dong Yang View PDF Abstract:Wave particle duality remains a central interpretational challenge in quantum theory. In this work, we develop a trajectory-based description of photon dynamics formulated in an extended complex space within the relativistic quantum Hamilton Jacobi framework. In this approach, photon motion is represented by complex trajectories whose real projections describe propagation, while imaginary components encode oscillatory structure. We show that momentum eigenstates correspond to straight line trajectories with uniform propagation at the speed of light, whereas superposition states lead to nontrivial quantum potentials and oscillatory motion in the complex plane. Extending the analysis to complex two dimensional space reveals richer dynamical behavior, including propagating wave like trajectories and standing wave like patterns in real projections. Energy momentum consistency is verified through an internal coherence analysis based on projected standing wave wavelengths. Rather than introducing new dynamical laws or additional physical dimensions, the complex space is employed as an interpretational framework that renders wave like and particle like aspects as complementary projections of a single underlying motion. The results suggest a unified geometric perspective on wave particle duality, while remaining fully compatible with standard quantum mechanics. Subjects: Quantum Physics (quant-ph) Cite as: arXiv:2601.20872 [quant-ph] (or arXiv:2601.20872v1 [quant-ph] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2601.20872 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite Submission history From: Shiang Yi Han [view email] [v1] Sun, 18 Jan 2026 06:43:30 UTC (1,225 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View a PDF of the paper titled An Ontological Interpretation of Photon Wave-Particle Duality via Complex-Space Trajectories, by Shiang-Yi Han and Ciann-Dong YangView PDF view license Current browse context: quant-ph new | recent | 2026-01 References & Citations INSPIRE HEP NASA ADSGoogle Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Loading... BibTeX formatted citation × loading... Data provided by: Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv Toggle alphaXiv (What is alphaXiv?) Links to Code Toggle CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers (What is CatalyzeX?) DagsHub Toggle DagsHub (What is DagsHub?) GotitPub Toggle Gotit.pub (What is GotitPub?) Huggingface Toggle Hugging Face (What is Huggingface?) Links to Code Toggle Papers with Code (What is Papers with Code?) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast (What is ScienceCast?) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate (What is Replicate?) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces (What is Spaces?) Spaces Toggle TXYZ.AI (What is TXYZ.AI?) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Link to Influence Flower Influence Flower (What are Influence Flowers?) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender (What is CORE?) Author Venue Institution Topic About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs. Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax (What is MathJax?)