1703 0015-9018/01/1200-1703/0 © 2001 Plenum Publishing Corporation Foundations of Physics, Vol. 31, No. 12, December 2001 (© 2001) Quantum Theory and Linear Stochastic Electrodynamics L. de la Pen˜a 1 and A. M. Cetto 1 1 Instituto de Fı ´sica, UNAM, Apartado Postal 20-364, Mexico, D.F., Mexico; e-mail: luis, ana@fisica.unam.mx Received August 28, 2000; revised October 4, 2000 We discuss the main results of Linear Stochastic Electrodynamics, starting from a reformulation of its basic assumptions. This theory shares with Stochastic Electrodynamics the core assumption that quantization comes about from the permanent interaction between matter and the vacuum radiation field, but it departs from it when it comes to considering the effect that this interaction has on the statistical properties of the nearby field. In the transition to the quantum regime, correlations between field modes of well-defined characteristic frequencies arise, which coincide with the transition frequencies of quantum mechanics and are therefore directly related with the energy quantization. The Heisenberg equations of motion of (non-relativistic) quantum electrodynamics are thus obtained. After a detailed consideration of the significance of the approximations made, we present a discussion on some of the most delicate or controversial features of quantum mechanics from the perspective provided by the present theory. 1. INTRODUCTION Several years ago we showed (1, 2) how under certain well defined conditions, non-relativistic quantum mechanics (QM) and quantum electrodynamics (QED) ensue from a particular form of stochastic electrodynamics (SED) called linear SED (LSED). The results arrived at are certainly stimulating and seem to confirm the essential correctness of the physics underlying LSED, although some steps of the derivation are in lack of rigorous proof. However, criticisms have been raised on the argument that this theory is a