Phase Propagation as the Physical Basis of Electrical Conduction — The Historical and Paradigmatic Significance of a Relational Turn in Physics

This paper examines the scientific and historical significance of reinterpreting electrical conduction not as the transport of particles, but as the propagation of phase relations. While modern condensed matter physics routinely employs wave functions and collective modes, conduction is still commonly explained using particle-based metaphors. This work argues that this metaphorical residue obscures a deeper physical shift already implicit in superconductivity, macroscopic quantum coherence, and phase-driven transport phenomena. Building on the Josephson effect, Anderson’s concept of broken gauge symmetry, and Laughlin’s critique of particle-centric explanations, this paper situates conduction within a broader paradigm shift: from localized carriers to extended phase dynamics. Electrical current is interpreted as a manifestation of sustained phase continuity across a system, rather than as the motion of discrete entities through space. This paper is conceptual and interpretive in nature. It does not propose new equations or experimental results, but reorganizes existing physical insights into a coherent phase-centered framework. By doing so, it clarifies why dissipationless transport, robustness to disorder, and nonlocal coherence emerge naturally when phase relations, rather than particles, are treated as physically primary. This work forms part of a broader “It from Wave” research program. Its ontological foundations are developed in a companion conceptual paper, while a complementary minimal model demonstrates how information and conduction arise from phase propagation without particle transport. Together, these works articulate a unified framework in which phase relations, history, and nonlocal coherence are treated as physically fundamental.