quantum mechanics - Are double-slit patterns really due to wave-like interference?

According to various sources on the web, it seems like the general concensus is that there isn't actually any wave-particle duality with quantum particles. For example, this article implies that diffraction patterns in double-slit experiments were interpreted as wave interference due to apparatus limitation at the time they were first performed.

Does this mean that all those sources and animations showing two waves interfering are simply incorrect, classical conclusions which don't have anything to do with (quantum) reality?

What's actually the most confusing is that most sites which state that it is now possible to pass individual photons through these slits, also claim that these individual photons somehow interfere with themselves resulting in the observed patterns. That seems like a rather thin explanation, doesn't it?

So, is there actually any need to use wave interference to explain the phenomena, or can we simply state that the pattern is probabilistic in a certain way, without involving the "spooky" explanations?

Answer

If you search this site for wave particle duality or something similar you'll find lots of questions addressing this and related issues.

The most complete description of particles we have is that they are excitations in a quantum field - this is called quantum field theory. Under some circumstances these excitations can behave like particles and under other circumstance they can behave like waves. If you take your example of the Young's slits experiment, it's possible to calculate the diffraction pattern using quantum field theory, but a quick glance at the paper I've linked should convince you that this is no easy matter. However in this experiment it's a very good approximation to use the wave model because the light is behaving very like a wave. And the wave calculation is simple enough to be taught to school children while quantum field theory is something you don't learn until postgraduate studies.

So while it might be technically true to say the diffraction pattern isn't being caused by waves, for all practical purposes we can treat it as if it is.