What is wave of photon? oscillation of something in space?

In summary: However, the thing physicists don't understand is that the wave function of a particle is not a particle. Its an excitation of the quantum field.
  • #36
I hate to tell you that I'm not an instrumentalist and thus I have trouble with accepting these principles as fundamental principles of nature. It is quite interesting though.
Apart from those philosophical issues, those principles are not enough to specify the time evolution of a quantum system, which requires a description of a classical Newtonian or special-relativistic system and a quantization step to get to the corresponding quantum description. Getting rid of that is the true art.
 
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  • #37
jostpuur said:
Everytime I have attempted to discuss the wave functions of relativistic particles, the physicists change the topic to the creation and annihilation of particles and the particle collisions.

bhobba said:
Operationally how do you measure velocity classically? And exactly how would you apply that to a photon? I think you will find that any observation with a photon that happens at a position destroys it making that determination rather difficult

So the topic was changed to the particle annihilation. How surprising.
 
  • #38
Your problem seems to be that you insist on the existence of well-defined quantum theories of relativistic particles. That might be mathematically desirable, but it's not physically relevant, because our best theories just aren't particle theories. Instead, they are field theories. Of course you could ask, what the quantum analog of a hypothetical classical relativistic massless particle was. But such an object is just not physically realized, so the question is purely academic. The relevant classical theory that we need to consider is classical electrodynamics. It is a field theory and it's quantum analog is quantum electrodynamics, which is a field theory as well. That means that the observables of the theory aren't position ##x## and momentum ##p##, but rather the field ##A_\mu(x)## and it's conjugate ##\pi_\mu(x)##. Position ##x## isn't an observable in classical electrodynamics either, so there's no reason to believe that such a concept needs to appear in the corresponding quantum theory. The notion of photons doesn't refer to particles. Instead, we have a bosonic Fock space built from the Hilbert space of an irreducible massless helicity=1 representation of the Poincare group and a photon is just a vector in such a Hilbert space. It's a well-defined mathematical concept, but it doesn't refer to a particle, although many poor textbooks want you to think of it that way and the "-on" suffix just encourages you to do so.
 
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  • #39
Geometry_dude said:
Apart from those philosophical issues, those principles are not enough to specify the time evolution of a quantum system, which requires a description of a classical Newtonian or special-relativistic system and a quantization step to get to the corresponding quantum description. Getting rid of that is the true art.

You should read chapter 3 of Ballentine - QM - A Modern Development:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/9810241054/?tag=pfamazon01-20

It actually follows from the POR ie symmetry - specifically the probabilities are frame independent.

Thanks
Bill
 
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  • #40
That is indeed very nice, I wish my quantum theory course would have been like that. Thank you for the recommendation.
 
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<h2>1. What is a photon?</h2><p>A photon is a fundamental particle of light that carries electromagnetic energy. It is the basic unit of all electromagnetic radiation, including visible light, radio waves, and X-rays.</p><h2>2. How does a photon behave?</h2><p>A photon behaves both as a particle and a wave. It travels in a straight line at the speed of light and has properties such as energy and momentum. At the same time, it also exhibits wave-like behavior, such as interference and diffraction.</p><h2>3. What is a wave of photon?</h2><p>A wave of photon refers to the oscillating pattern of electromagnetic energy that a photon carries. This wave is characterized by its frequency, wavelength, and amplitude.</p><h2>4. What is the oscillation of something in space?</h2><p>The oscillation of something in space refers to the back and forth movement of a physical quantity, such as energy or matter, in a specific region of space. This oscillation can take the form of a wave, which can be described by its frequency, wavelength, and amplitude.</p><h2>5. How is the wave of photon related to the oscillation of something in space?</h2><p>The wave of photon is a specific type of oscillation in space, where the physical quantity being oscillated is electromagnetic energy. This oscillation is what allows photons to travel through space and interact with matter, creating the phenomenon of light.</p>

1. What is a photon?

A photon is a fundamental particle of light that carries electromagnetic energy. It is the basic unit of all electromagnetic radiation, including visible light, radio waves, and X-rays.

2. How does a photon behave?

A photon behaves both as a particle and a wave. It travels in a straight line at the speed of light and has properties such as energy and momentum. At the same time, it also exhibits wave-like behavior, such as interference and diffraction.

3. What is a wave of photon?

A wave of photon refers to the oscillating pattern of electromagnetic energy that a photon carries. This wave is characterized by its frequency, wavelength, and amplitude.

4. What is the oscillation of something in space?

The oscillation of something in space refers to the back and forth movement of a physical quantity, such as energy or matter, in a specific region of space. This oscillation can take the form of a wave, which can be described by its frequency, wavelength, and amplitude.

5. How is the wave of photon related to the oscillation of something in space?

The wave of photon is a specific type of oscillation in space, where the physical quantity being oscillated is electromagnetic energy. This oscillation is what allows photons to travel through space and interact with matter, creating the phenomenon of light.

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