Zeeya,
Important topic. t'Hooft etc seem right in that that de Boglie-Bohm could never give a complete account. I've suggested a completed version consistent with Jonathan's fractal approach. It seems hard to explain but do please advise (anybody!) if this gives an insight to a coherent logic;
The spin-orbit relation in optics is the helical path taken by a spinning 'charge'. The charge itself is a smaller 'fractal' so we have two quantum 'gauges' We then consider the pilot wave as the 'greater' of two fractals, the smaller of which is the 'particle'. (the pattern may continue up and down in scale, for which evidence can be identified right up to the CMB helical anisotropy).
The +/- binary orbiting charges may then be considered in 2D as represented by a sine wave, with +1 -1 values each side of a median (mid height) 'ground state', only then NOTIONALLY 'zero' (flat line = undetectable). That state may be equivalent to the 2.7 degree ambient medium of space, or the 'dark energy' essential to concordance cosmology.
However the real value of the model is in it's application in Mach-Zehnder/ quantum eraser etc set ups, where it overcomes the need for any assumption that photons are indivisible (an assumptions rather inconsistent with Stern-Gerlach splitter creating pairs anyway!).
Only the positive charge will reach the required level to 'manifest' as a quantization ('photon'), and there's a 50:50 probability which path it took, but the positive charge is NOT the whole 'wave' energy, which is the 'change' (fluctuation) value. The model fits the standard PMD harmonic resonance model of refraction in optical science, 'half silvered' mirrors or s crystals.
Recombination is then simple and logical, fine tunable by a slight delay in either path to either maximise the 'peak' or flatten the whole pattern ('constructive or destructive interference'). No mysterious 'counterfactual' explanation is required.
Could anybody follow and make any sense of that description? Any falsification?
My essay described how 'non-locality' and the cosine distribution can then be classically derived, precisely in the way anticipated by John Bell (p175 and 194), consistent with both Copenhagen (the detector influences the finding) and SR (causal, but only down to the 'next' smaller fractal gauge). The essay includes an experimental proof and a number of important supporting references.
http://fqxi.org/community/forum/topic/2104
Or short updated summary here.
Best wishes
Peter