On the Thermodynamic Origin of the Quantum Potential

Abstract

The quantum potential is shown to result from the presence of a subtle thermal vacuum energy distributed across the whole domain of an experimental setup. Explicitly, its form is demonstrated to be exactly identical to the heat distribution derived from the defining equation for classical diffusion-wave fields. For a single free particle path, this thermal energy does not significantly affect particle motion. However, in between different paths, or at interfaces, the accumulation-depletion law for diffusion waves provides an immediate new understanding of the quantum potential's main features.