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FRI: Friday Contributed Sessions

FRI 4: Foundational / Mathematical Aspects – Alternative Views

FRI 4.3: Talk

Friday, September 12, 2025, 11:15–11:30, ZHG004

How come the quantum? Testing a proposal for the origin of Planck's quantum of action — •Christoph Schiller — Motion Moutain

The answer to Wheeler's question ``How come the quantum?'' given by Kauffman is presented and explored. The answer, going back to an approach by Dirac, proposes a topological origin of Planck's quantum of action. The proposal is checked against all quantum effects, including non-commutativity, spinor wave functions, entanglement, Heisenberg's indeterminacy relation, and the Schrödinger and Dirac equations. The principle of least action is deduced. The spectra of elementary particles, the gauge interactions, and general relativity are derived. Estimates for elementary particle masses and for coupling constants, as well as numerous experimental predictions are deduced. Complete agreement with observations is found. The derivations also appear to eliminate alternatives and thus provide arguments for the uniqueness of the proposal.

Details, publications and preprints at https://motionmountain.net/strands

Keywords: origin of Planck's quantum of action; origin of gauge interactions; origin of elementary particles; origin of general relativity; origin of particle masses and coupling constants