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I encountered a thought provoking article suggesting that electrons are electromagnetic waves. Is this possible? I may not agree with their entire model, but surely there is the possibility that an electromagnetic wave might impersonate a some aspects of a point charge through aligning its electric component with the electric field.

Waffle's Crazy Peanut
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Dale
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    This kind of nonsense is basically the reason that arXiv started putting up barriers to entry, which is not to say that there is nothing good on vixra, but you have to be even more wary. – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten Jun 23 '13 at 03:56
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    Shouldn't this question be closed? It isn't mainstream. At all!. – Abhimanyu Pallavi Sudhir Jun 23 '13 at 06:15
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    @dimension10 There is a difference between being wrong and being non-mainstream. This question is asking for clarification regarding an interpretation of mainstream physics and the consensus here is that it is wrong. – Dale Jun 23 '13 at 18:48
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    @JoeHobbit alternative explanations to things that are well understood are not only wrong but non mainstream too, since mainstream physicists know what electromagnetic waves and electrons know quite a long time ago. – Dilaton Jun 23 '13 at 19:11
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    @JoeHobbit, for those with some familiarity of the subject of QED, the idea that electrons could actually be EM waves is as odd as the idea that carbohydrates could actually be hydrocarbons, something I believe Velikovsky proposed. – Alfred Centauri Jun 23 '13 at 21:42
  • @AlfredCentauri Every theory has its presuppositions, which in the case of QED include the treatment of electrons as point charges. Every answer so far has said essentially that in various ways. The intended purpose of this question was to ask for conclusive experimental evidence for that presupposition. I realize that was not clear and I'm not sure whether to change this question or ask a new one. – Dale Jun 24 '13 at 04:19

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Seriously?

  • Electromagnetic waves are neutral; electrons are charged.
  • Electromagnetic waves have spin one; electrons have spin one half.
  • Electromagnetic waves have lepton number zero; electrons have lepton number one.
  • Electromagnetic waves have invariant mass zero; electrons have non-zero invariant mass.

All of these things are observables.

dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten
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  • Light waves are of course neutral, but that does not preclude the possibility of a charge bearing variation of an EM wave (especially at a much lower velocity). Some variation would in this case need to have spin 1/2, lepton number 1, and mass. – Dale Jun 23 '13 at 04:03
  • @JoeHobbit how could an EM wave have a mass? – user6972 Jun 23 '13 at 08:51
  • @user6972 See: http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/71300/is-electromagnetic-mass-possible – Dale Jul 16 '13 at 18:18
  • Frnakly, @JoeHobbit you're going to have to show me a solution before I'll buy that. – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten Jul 16 '13 at 18:36
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No, electrons are not electromagnetic waves. The paper is kook material. Electrons are charged. You can't make a charged particle out of electromagnetic waves, which are neutral.