Reinterpreting Electromagnetism. The Origin of Maxwell's Laws and the Distinction Between Fields and Photon Propagation

This work presents a resonance-based interpretation of electromagnetism in which electromagnetic phenomena are understood as emergent from coherence dynamics within an underlying Field Matrix. In this framework, electric and magnetic fields are interpreted as structural configurations of lateral coherence, corresponding to gradient and rotational modes, respectively. Maxwell’s equations are reinterpreted as effective continuum laws describing the behavior of these structures, rather than as fundamental ontological postulates. A central feature of the work is the explicit distinction between electromagnetic fields and photons. Electromagnetic fields are associated with stationary or quasi-stationary lateral coherence configurations, whereas photons are described as propagating excitations of sequential coherence. These excitations are generated through coupling with lateral structure but are not composed of it. The framework provides a unified conceptual description of field structure, radiation, and interaction, in which observable phenomena arise from coherence imbalance and system-level reorganization. Magnetism is interpreted as the emergence of rotational coherence under driven and constrained conditions, while electromagnetic interaction is understood as a collective effect of laterally extended structures. The model preserves the predictive success of classical electromagnetism while offering a physically interpretable ontology that clarifies several conceptual aspects of the theory, including the nature of electromagnetic fields, the structural origin of charge, material-dependent electromagnetic response and the distinction between field configurations and photon propagation. This work is intended as part of a broader theoretical framework exploring the role of coherence in fundamental physical processes.