EDIT 1: Many people are recommending that the question Do electrons really perform instantaneous quantum leaps? is very similar to mine. However, that question is very specific to quantum leaps. I am also asking about a possible relation to QFT and the all-fields model.
Having learned that electrons can move from one energy level to another by transmitting or taking in energy, I am interested in knowing how exactly do they "jump" from one level to another. Do the electrons move as a particle or as a wave through energy levels. Because if they move as a particle, the distance and space between the electron shells must be covered, so do electrons move through the orbitals as a whole particle? Or do they move like a wave, because electrons exhibit wave-particle duality? Also, is the "jump" from one energy level to another instantaneous or is there a transmission delay? Because from what I have read, it seems that an instantaneous transmission has not been proved, whereas a delayed transmission by direct action-at-a-distance theory has been proven by experiments. Also, in a quantum mechanics explanation of electron transmission, I learned that the electron is destroyed in the original orbital, then recreated in another orbital, and the result also releases a photon. I thought that matter could not be created nor destroyed.
Furthermore, could it be possible that if the field model is used, it could possibly simplify the matter? If the field model is used, then would it be right to assume that the electron field is part of the shells/energy level where the electrons are, because electrons are just vibrations of the electron field and for them to be "created" they must come from a field? If we do assume that the electron field is present, then can we not say that since the field is able to occupy the space in which the distinct energy levels are in, then an electron's energy in one energy level can be absorbed by the field and then "moved"/transmitted to another energy level, through the use of the field? And this would be done by the energy traveling from one part of the field which is at a certain energy level to another, and then the energy can cause a vibration which will "pop-out" an electron at the new place in the field which is the new energy level.
Please let me know if any of my logic or understanding of the topic is flawed. I am very interested in getting to know everyone's take on this.
Best Answer
There are misconceptions in your learning experience, (you do not give your physics background).
It is not the electrons that are moving in the classical sense. It is the whole atom which has quantum mechanical solutions with energy levels and orbitals for the electron. The atom absorbs a photon of an energy between two energy levels and the electron goes to the higher energy orbital. Orbitals are not orbits. They are probability loci, of where in (x,y,z) the given electron would be if measured. See this calculation of the orbitals available to the electron of the hydrogen atom.
As for the time taken, the energy levels have a width, and that corresponds to a lifetime, so there is nothing instantaneous.
This is a confused use of quantum field theory, which is not very usefull for atomic spectra calculations. QFT describes well high energy scatterings, not the bound states of atoms and molecules.
There is nothing sacred about matter at the level of quantum mechanics and special relativity. Mass is not a conserved quantity, it is the four vector algebra that describes the creation and annihilation of particles . If there is enough energy in an interaction to create a particle antiparticle pair , quantum mechanics gives a probability for this to happen.
As for the last paragraph, Quantum field theory is not very useful for bound states as atoms and molecules, as its calculations involve a series expansion. Atoms can have complete solutions so to use the model of creation and annihilation operators on the corresponding fields makes no sense. There are such calculations but as the answer here says, still in a research stage,