Derivation of the Schroedinger Equation and the Klein-Gordon Equation from First Principles

Abstract

The Schroedinger- and Klein-Gordon equations are directly derived from classical Lagrangians. The only inputs are given by the discreteness of energy (E=hbar.w) and momentum (p=hbar.k), respectively, as well as the assumed existence of a space-pervading field of "zero-point energy" (E_0=hbar.w/2 per spatial dimension) associated to each particle of energy E. The latter leads to an additional kinetic energy term in the classical Lagrangian, which alone suffices to pass from classical to quantum mechanics. Moreover, Heisenberg's uncertainty relations are also derived within this framework, i.e., without referring to quantum mechanical or other complex-numbered functions.