Abstract

Wave-particle duality remains one of the most conceptually unresolved features of quantum mechanics. Although the quantum formalism predicts interference and localization phenomena with great precision, it provides no physical account of how a single quantum object exhibits both behaviors. In this work, a dynamical mechanism for wave-particle duality is proposed based on spontaneous stochastic mass-energy interconversion at subatomic scales. By allowing inertial mass to fluctuate in accordance with Einstein’s mass-energy equivalence, a modified Schrödinger dynamics is obtained in which stochastic variations in kinetic energy generate path-dependent phase accumulation. Applied to the double-slit experiment, the framework shows that quantum interference arises from coherent kinetic-phase dynamics, while particle-like localization emerges naturally at detection without invoking observer-dependent collapse.

The formalism yields closed-form expressions for interference visibility, predicts a characteristic dependence of coherence loss on particle mass, momentum, and flight time, and admits a transparent path-integral interpretation. Crucially, the theory is explicitly falsifiable: existing neutron and atom interferometry experiments already place stringent upper bounds on the strength of mass-energy fluctuations, and next-generation interferometers can directly test the predicted scaling. The results provide a physically grounded account of wave-particle duality that preserves the standard quantum formalism while making clear, experimentally testable predictions.

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