In double slit experiments, light is observed in two distinct conditions (no measurement of trajectory / measurement of trajectory) that bring two different results (no interferences / interferences).

In such a context, light is given two types of representation (wave / particle) which, while matching observed behaviour, are of incompatible nature : the wave is probabilistic, infinite, while the particle is finite and localized. Because of that, one talks about light's "particle-wave duality."

What if those two observations (wave, particle) were not to be taken as two representations of a unique phenomenon (light), but rather as two intrinsically different states of that phenomenon ?

In such a perspective, saying that "there is a paradox in the wave / particle duality" would as be inadequate as, for instance, saying that "there is a paradox in the liquid/ice duality of water."

Rather than seeing irreconcilable and opposite sides of a quite abstract concept (light as a quantum field), can one consider "wave" and "particle" just as two distinct states of light, that are brought by the varying experimental conditions ?

As we know that wave and particle properties will never be simultaneously observable, can we consider decoherence in the double slit experiment as a state change of light?

In that perspective, can we think of lightwaves as an excited state of vacuum, and of photons as an event more excited state of the same thing?

In double slit experiments, light is observed in two distinct conditions (no measurement of trajectory / measurement of trajectory) that bring two different results (no interferences / interferences).

In such a context, light is given two types of representation (wave / particle) which, while matching observed behaviour, are of incompatible nature : the wave is probabilistic, infinite, while the particle is finite and localized. Because of that, one talks about light's "particle-wave duality."

What if those two observations (wave, particle) were not to be taken as two representations of a unique phenomenon (light), but rather as two intrinsically different states of that phenomenon ?

In such a perspective, saying that "there is a paradox in the wave / particle duality" would as be inadequate as, for instance, saying that "there is a paradox in the liquid/ice duality of water."

Rather than seeing irreconcilable and opposite sides of a quite abstract concept (light as a quantum field), can one consider "wave" and "particle" just as two distinct states of light, that are brought by the varying experimental conditions ?

In other words, as we know that wave and particle properties will never be simultaneously observable, can we consider decoherence in the double slit experiment as a state change of light?

In that perspective, can we think of lightwaves as an excited state of vacuum, and of photons as an event more excited state of the same thing?