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daniel_i_l
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Why is the WF of the photon a physical wave - the EM wave, but the WF of all other matter are imaginary?
The EM wave that you get from the classical Maxwell equations is not the wavefunction of the photon.
daniel_i_l said:Does the EM wave have to do with the wave function of the photon? Are they connected?
Yes, that’s right. In addition, almost all effects, which we observe for the photons, are classical! The most number of the experiments used photons with classical properties. Only one exclusion there is. It is the case of entangled photons named bi-photons. The optic with bi-photons (entanglement photons) is quantum. It is Quantum Optic. All others kind of optical experiments are classical. It is classical optic with classical light.daniel_i_l said:Or is the electric field (and the magnetic field that it generates) just the classical description of the photon?
daniel_i_l said:Or is the electric field (and the magnetic field that it generates) just the classical description of the photon?
jtbell said:More precisely, electric and magnetic fields give a classical description of the net effect of bazillions of photons. If you're dealing with only a single photon, or a small number of photons, I don't think a description in terms of electric and magnetic fields is meaningful.
That's interesting.Ring said:From “Fundamentals of Physics, Fifth edition, Volume 2” Halliday / Resnick / Walker
It’s not only an electromagnetic wave but it is also a probability wave. That is, to every point in a light wave we can attach a numerical probability (the square of the amplitude of the electric field vector) that a photon can be detected in any small volume centered on that point.
Yes, it is more exactly and better than I wrote in my post before.jtbell said:More precisely, electric and magnetic fields give a classical description of the net effect of bazillions of photons. If you're dealing with only a single photon, or a small number of photons, I don't think a description in terms of electric and magnetic fields is meaningful.
jtbell said:If you're dealing with only a single photon, or a small number of photons, I don't think a description in terms of electric and magnetic fields is meaningful.
The wave-particle duality of photons is the concept that light can behave as both a wave and a particle. This means that photons, which are the smallest units of light, can exhibit properties of both waves and particles depending on the experimental setup.
The wave-particle duality of photons was first proposed by Albert Einstein in 1905 during his study of the photoelectric effect. This was further developed by other scientists, such as Max Planck and Louis de Broglie, in their research on quantum mechanics.
The double-slit experiment is one of the most famous experiments that demonstrates the wave-like nature of photons. In this experiment, a beam of light is shone through two parallel slits, and an interference pattern is observed on the other side, indicating that the photons are behaving like waves.
The photoelectric effect is one experiment that demonstrates the particle-like nature of photons. In this experiment, photons are shone onto a metal surface, causing electrons to be emitted. This shows that photons have enough energy to knock electrons off the surface, similar to how particles collide with each other.
The wave-particle duality of photons has significant implications in the field of quantum mechanics. It helps explain the behavior of light and other particles at the subatomic level and has led to groundbreaking discoveries and technologies, such as lasers, solar cells, and digital cameras.