Exploring the Charge of Photons: What Does it Mean?

In summary, the article states that the upper bound for the photon charge is somewhere around 10^{-46} times the charge of an electron. This does not mean that a photon is charged.
  • #1
ArielGenesis
239
0
recently, I read a news that stated that photons, or light particle, has a small amount of charge. what does this suppose to means, and how we know, and how come?
 
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  • #2
This is a serious misunderstanding. The charge of the photon is still supposed to be 0, but it is not possible to determine it to 0 with 100% accuracy experimentally.

So a recent experiment has shown, that the upper bound for the photon charge is somewhere around 10^{-46} times the charge of an electron. Before the experimental upper bound was somewhere around 10^{-33} times the charge of an electron.
This does not mean, that a photon is charged. We just got closer to 0.

You certainly mean this article:
Bound on the Photon Charge from the Phase Coherence of Extragalactic Radiation by Brett Altschul
Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 261801 (2007)
 
  • #3
ArielGenesis said:
recently, I read a news that stated that photons, or light particle, has a small amount of charge. what does this suppose to means, and how we know, and how come?

Where did you read that?

Photons do not have charge, otherwise we would be able bend light with an
electric field. Also, charge is quantized. It does not come in arbitrary small
amounts.

The photon has two big brothers which do have a positive and negative
charge equal to that of the electron. These are the intermediate vector
bosons W+ and W- which propagate only over extremely small ranges,
smaller as the radius of an atom's nucleus.

Regards, Hans
 
  • #4
ArielGenesis said:
recently, I read a news that stated that photons, or light particle, has a small amount of charge. what does this suppose to means, and how we know, and how come?

Again, as has been repeated many times, such a "reference" is not sufficient to conduct any sense of a rational discussion. You must cite a proper reference. It is no longer sufficient here on PF to simply use "I heard" or "I read" when trying to discuss something in this context.

So this is a reminder to everyone else, especially new members on here. If you cannot provide a sufficiently clear source that you can cite, then it can't be that important to you for you not to jot it down, and it can't be discuss with any sense of clarity on here.

Zz.
 

1. What is the charge of a photon?

The charge of a photon is zero. Photons are electrically neutral particles, meaning they have no positive or negative charge.

2. How are photons charged?

Photons are not charged in the traditional sense. They do not have a net electric charge like particles such as protons and electrons. However, photons can interact with charged particles and transfer energy, which can give the appearance of a charge.

3. Can photons be attracted to or repelled by electric fields?

No, photons do not have an electric charge and therefore do not interact with electric fields in the same way that charged particles do. However, photons can be influenced by electric fields through phenomena such as the photoelectric effect.

4. How does the charge of photons relate to their behavior?

The charge of photons is not directly related to their behavior. Rather, it is the energy and wavelength of photons that determine their behavior, such as their ability to interact with matter and travel through different mediums.

5. Are there different types of photons with varying charges?

No, all photons have a charge of zero. However, there are different types of photons with varying energy and wavelengths, such as gamma rays, X-rays, visible light, and radio waves.

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