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arxiv: 2604.03778 · v2 · pith:3DUHHBHBnew · submitted 2026-04-04 · 🪐 quant-ph

Interaction with the Environment via Random Matrices and the Emergence of Classical Field Theory

Pith reviewed 2026-05-13 17:37 UTC · model grok-4.3

classification 🪐 quant-ph
keywords fieldclassicallocalizeddynamicsodingerschrmanifoldsector
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The pith

Classical field configurations arise as coordinates on manifolds of quantum states localized by random-matrix environmental interactions, reproducing equations like the sourced Klein-Gordon from unitary Schrödinger evolution.

A machine-rendered reading of the paper's core claim, the machinery that carries it, and where it could break.

Quantum systems evolve unitarily in a high-dimensional state space according to the Schrödinger equation. The work assumes that interactions with the environment can be effectively modeled by random matrices, which introduce stochastic behavior while preserving unitarity. For particles this leads to localization near classical phase-space points and Newtonian motion. Extending the framework, the authors embed particle and field degrees of freedom into a joint state-space geometry. They construct submanifolds consisting of states localized near classical field configurations. When the unitary evolution is restricted to the tangent bundle of these manifolds, the random-matrix interactions produce diffusion in state space combined with repeated localization. The net effect constrains the particle to probe only a tubular neighborhood of classical field states, yielding dynamics that reproduce the sourced Klein-Gordon equation and the associated force law. The derivation uses only standard quantum rules and the geometric structure of state space.

Core claim

The unitary Schrödinger dynamics, combined with the random-matrix model of system-environment interaction, yields effective diffusion in state space together with repeated localization due to environmental recording. As a result, although field states are not themselves confined near classical configurations, the interaction constrains the particle to probe only a restricted sector of the field, corresponding to a tubular neighborhood of localized field states. The resulting dynamics reproduces classical field equations, including the sourced Klein-Gordon equation and the corresponding force law.

Load-bearing premise

The interaction Hamiltonian effectively exhibits a random-matrix structure that produces the required stochastic yet unitary evolution and localization near the constructed manifolds of states localized near classical field configurations in the joint particle-field state space.

read the original abstract

It was recently shown that Newtonian dynamics of macroscopic particles can be derived from unitary Schr\"odinger evolution under a random-matrix assumption on the system-environment interaction. In that framework, classical phase space is realized geometrically as a manifold of localized equivalence classes in quantum state space, the tangent component of Schr\"odinger evolution reproduces Newtonian motion, and environmental interactions stabilize the state near this manifold. We extend this framework to quantum fields. The field itself is not assumed to become classical. Instead, macroscopic particles stabilized near the classical particle manifold interact with the field through the sector of field state space accessible to localized particle dynamics. The classical field is represented by the corresponding localized sector, and finite probe resolution leads to a quotient description in terms of localized equivalence classes of field states. The tangent component of the quantum-field Schr\"odinger dynamics on this localized quotient sector yields the corresponding classical field equations. Finite-dimensional simulations illustrate the mechanism for scalar and electromagnetic fields. The accessible field coordinates satisfy the sourced Klein--Gordon and Maxwell equations, and a localized test charge responds to the electromagnetic field through the Lorentz force. Thus classical field behavior emerges within unitary Schr\"odinger dynamics, without identifying the classical field with an expectation value, without relying on coherent states as special physical states, and without introducing a nonunitary collapse postulate.

Editorial analysis

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Axiom & Free-Parameter Ledger

0 free parameters · 1 axioms · 0 invented entities

The central claim rests on the random-matrix interaction assumption and the geometric construction of localized state manifolds in joint particle-field state space; no free parameters or invented entities are explicitly introduced in the abstract.

axioms (1)
  • domain assumption The system-environment interaction Hamiltonian effectively exhibits a random-matrix structure
    This assumption is invoked to produce stochastic yet unitary evolution and localization near classical submanifolds.

pith-pipeline@v0.9.0 · 5573 in / 1225 out tokens · 42671 ms · 2026-05-13T17:37:59.250958+00:00 · methodology

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