A Phenomenological Background-Excitation Model of Light Propagation: The Impact-Triggered Flash Cascade (ITFC)

Abstract

The Impact-Triggered Flash Cascade (ITFC) Model: A Quantum-Interpreted Background Framework for Light Propagation To address this question, we propose the Impact-Triggered Flash Cascade (ITFC) model, in which an unobservable background of degrees of freedom (U) supports localized excited states (U*) triggered by contact with a high-speed driver (P). The observable optical signal is identified with the sequential transfer of these excitations through the background. Methodologically, the model is constructed using two effective parameters: a transfer length and a local dwell/lag time. From these quantities, we derive an effective propagation law and an induced refractive-index relation. We then show that the same phenomenological structure provides a unified account of rectilinear propagation, reflection and refraction, scattering and turbidity, and diffraction and interference through excitation transfer, boundary response, and temporal synchronization. An effective-action sketch is further introduced to encode delayed transfer, finite range, and nonlocal memory at a coarse-grained level. The main finding is that a compact background-excitation phenomenology can reproduce a broad class of optical consequences while remaining compatible with local relativistic constraints. Although the present work is not a complete microscopic quantum theory, it offers a structured quantum-interpreted proposal for light propagation and a basis for further extensions toward nuclear and field-theoretic applications.

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