  The quantum potential is shown to result from the presence of a subtle
thermal vacuum energy distributed across the whole domain of an experimental
setup. Explicitly, its form is demonstrated to be exactly identical to the heat
distribution derived from the defining equation for classical diffusion-wave
fields. For a single free particle path, this thermal energy does not
significantly affect particle motion. However, in between different paths, or
at interfaces, the accumulation-depletion law for diffusion waves provides an
immediate new understanding of the quantum potential's main features.
