Classical-field theory of thermal radiation

Abstract

In this paper, using the viewpoint that quantum mechanics can be constructed as a classical field theory without any quantization I build a fully classical theory of thermal radiation. Planck's law for the spectral energy density of thermal radiation and the Einstein A-coefficient for spontaneous emission are derived in the framework of classical field theory without using the concept of "photon". It is shown that the spectral energy density of thermal radiation is apparently not a universal function of frequency, as follows from the Planck's law, but depends weakly on the nature of atoms, while Planck's law is valid only as an approximation in the limit of weak excitation of atoms.