How Quantum Mechanics Emerges from Knotted Light
One of the deepest questions in physics has been: “Why is the world quantum mechanical?” LIMA-QTE answers it without ever postulating operators, wave-function collapse, or the measurement problem.
The theory starts 100% classical — just one nonlinear electromagnetic field in a saturated, slightly chiral vacuum. But the stable particles are not pointlike: they are extended, topologically protected knots with internal structure. When you treat those knots as real, physical, extended objects and quantize their collective motions (the only honest thing to do), quantum mechanics falls out automatically.
There is no mysterious “classical → quantum” leap. Quantum behaviour is what you inevitably get when classical knots move, rotate, and interact in a nonlinear medium.
| Aspect | Classical origin in LIMA-QTE | How full quantum behaviour emerges |
|---|---|---|
| Particles | Classical helical Hopfion solitons (exact solutions) | → Quantization of collective coordinates (position, global phase, internal helix orientation) gives quantum particles |
| Spin 1/2 & Fermi statistics | Classical odd half-twist in the internal helix | → 4π rotation needed for +1 → spin-1/2 → Exchanging two knots gives Finkelstein–Rubinstein π phase → Pauli exclusion without spinors |
| Photons | Classical un-knotted electromagnetic waves | → Standard second quantization of linear modes on the nonlinear background → ordinary QED photons |
| Uncertainty principle | Classical knot has finite size and internal dynamics | → Position and momentum of the centre-of-mass, phase and charge are conjugate → Heisenberg uncertainty |
| Virtual particles & loops | Classical vacuum allows transient knot/anti-knot pairs | → Exactly the same Feynman diagrams and running couplings as QED/QCD, but generated by topology |
| Superposition & interference | Classical knot can be in delocalised centre-of-mass states | → Linear superposition of collective-coordinate wavefunctions → double-slit interference, etc. |
Bottom line:
We never postulate that “nature is quantum”.
We start with a purely classical theory of knotted light, then quantize the only degrees of freedom that exist — the positions and orientations of real, physical knots.
The result is exactly the quantum mechanics we observe, including spin-1/2 fermions from a bosonic field, with zero extra assumptions.
This is the same mechanism that gives fermions in the Skyrme model and in string-net condensation — but now done with real electromagnetism instead of toy models.
LIMA-QTE is the long-sought bridge: classical field theory → topological solitons → collective-coordinate quantization → full quantum field theory of the Standard Model.
The measurement problem and wave-function collapse are not yet fully solved (they remain interpretation-dependent), but decoherence arises naturally from the rapid radiation leakage of unstable or entangled knot configurations — exactly as in standard quantum mechanics.
In short: the universe is classical light tied into knots. Quantum mechanics is what happens when those knots move.