No, the concept of the aether is not making a comeback through quantum field theory. In modern physics, the aether has been largely abandoned as a fundamental concept in our understanding of the universe.
The aether was a hypothesized medium that was once believed to permeate all of space and serve as the medium through which light waves propagated. However, experimental evidence, particularly from the famous Michelson-Morley experiment in 1887, showed that the aether concept was inconsistent with the behavior of light and the laws of electromagnetism.
Quantum field theory (QFT) is a framework that describes the behavior of elementary particles and their interactions based on fields. It is a fundamental part of our current understanding of particle physics and the standard model. In QFT, particles are described as excitations of the underlying quantum fields, such as the electromagnetic field or the Higgs field.
While quantum field theory deals with fields and their interactions, it does not resurrect or rely on the concept of the aether. The fields in quantum field theory are not seen as a medium in which particles move or propagate; rather, they represent fundamental entities that permeate all of space and undergo quantum fluctuations.
It's worth noting that there have been speculative theories and discussions in physics that use the term "aether" in a different context or with a different meaning. However, these ideas are typically not connected to the historical concept of the aether and do not propose a return to the classical notion of a medium through which light or particles move.