The Theory

    Since of the birth of Quantum Mechanics (QM), the idea of a hypothetical unified "Quantum-Wave" theory of light, introduced by Albert Einstein in its work on the nature of ligth, derives from the inadequacy of both quantum and classical electromagnetic (EM) theories in describing coherently the whole of phenomena associated with light. In a different context, a similar difficulty in the deep comprehension of some aspects of quantum (and classical) theory, has been expressed by R.P. Feynman in his book [1] on QED.  Feynman, considering the Sommerfeld's fine structure constant writes that it seems to have been written by God's hand and that we do not know how he may have moved his pencil in deriving it.
   The physical role of the fine structure constant and its theoretical connections with the most important electromagnetic (EM) constants, put in evidence how Feynman's sentence contains the same idea of Einstein's. In fact, "God's hand" should be obviously interpreted as a unique universal drawing of nature describing an (unknown) theory able to justify all the microscopic and macroscopic phenomena associated with light, matter and the electromagnetic field.
    Following Einstein and Feynman's idea, a new model of the dynamical behaviour of a pair of charges during their em interaction has been proposed in ref. [2-3-4]. The model allows us to propose a derivation of the value of the coupling constant . Planck's constant  as well as quantum energy and momentum exchanged during the pair interaction follow in the same phenomenological context and a coherent derivation for an uncertainty principle can also be obtained.
    We think that the physical ideas contained in the model [2-3-4], if theoretically organised in a wider context, should permit the construction of a "bridge" between the phenomenology described by QM and that described by the classical EM theory.  In this sense the "Bridge Theory" (BT) is able to unify wave and quantum EM theory, yielding a continuity between wave and quantum em phenomenology.
     In this paper, we review the derivation of the BT putting a special emphasis on its classical, but non-standard, foundations. New results concerning classical and quantum em phenomenology  are given.

 The Basic Ideas
     The theory develops from the consideration that the effective spatial symmetry that characterises an EM wave depends on the nature of the source. If we consider an ideal point-like source of EM waves, the propagation occurs radially with spherical wave fronts, so that also the Poynting’s vector (PV) will be radial. We shall call "ideal" such a source. On the other hand, in nature one never deals with "ideal" sources. The simplest source that can be produced is at least endowed with a dipole moment, usually is not point-like. Therefore the propagation will not occur by a spherical wave front and the PV will not be radial everywhere. Hence, the PV will have a transverse component different from zero. We shall call "real" such a kind of EM source.

     It is usual to assume that at a distance from the source much greater than the emission wavelength, the wave has total spherical symmetry. At short distances, however, this assumption introduces a non-negligible approximations from the energy point of view. In fact, the theory is based on the physical effects produced by the lack of spherical symmetry in the wave emission of a "real" source.  In this case, the non-zero transverse component of the PV reduces the radial emission of energy and, consequently, localises energy around the source.

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