Before revision:  In this model, a photon is a processing wave front instantiated from an entity program class, and quantum collapse is when one class stops to merge with another, which restarts its processing . This processing approach to physics also gives insights into  entanglement, superposition, counterfactuals, the holographic principle and the measurement problem.
After revision:  In this model, a photon is a processing wave front instantiated from an entity program spreading as a processing wave of instances. It becomes a "particle" if any part of it overloads the grid network that runs it, causing the photon program to reboot and restart at a new node. The "collapse of the wave function" is how quantum processing creates what we call a physical photon. This informational approach gives insights into entanglement, superposition, counterfactuals, the holographic principle and the measurement problem.