Do photons pass through each other?

[Godparicle]

"...We have heard that idea so long that we accept it, and it is almost impossible for us to realize that very intelligent men have proposed contrary theories--that something comes out of the eye and feels for the object, for example. Some other important observations are that, as light goes from one place to another, it goes in straight lines, if there is nothing in the way, and that the rays do not seem to interfere with one another. That is, light is crisscrossing in all directions in the room, but the light that is passing cross our line of vision does not affect the light that comes to us from the object. This was once a most powerful argument aganist the corpuscular theory; it was used by Huygens. If light were like a lot of arrows shooting along, how could other arrows go through them so easily? Such philosophical arguments are not of much weight. One could always say that light is made up of arrows which go through each other!.."

If I am not wrong, Feynman is claiming that photons can pass through each other. Isn't it?

This thread is started with the interest of the thread "Does electron has definite path?": https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/does-electron-has-definite-path.780047/page-2#post-4905563

 

[bhobba]

If I am not wrong, Feynman is claiming that photons can pass through each other.

Why do you think the issue is can they pass through each other rather than having a probability of scattering? In other words why do you assume the language you are using is the appropriate one for the situation?

The answer is they have a probability of scattering:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-photon_physics
http://physics.aps.org/synopsis-for/10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.080405

Added Later:
As I alluded to in the other thread lay explanations and what really is happening are two different things. See post 4 of the following:
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/how-to-talk-about-interpretations.775885/#post-4880599

Now its not normally an issue. But if you want to use it to challenge well known QM facts such as electrons having an observable path then sorry - you are going into much more advanced territory.

Thanks
Bill

 

[Nugatory]

If I am not wrong, Feynman is claiming that photons can pass through each other. Isn't it?

He is claiming no such thing. He is stating the fact "light is crisscrossing" without interference.

If you think a beam of light is a stream of photons, you might infer from this that photons can pass through one another. However, this inference would wrong because your premise that a beam of light is a stream of photons is incorrect.

Some of your comments in the thread from which this one was spawned (for example, the bit about a volume so small that all the space within it might be occupied by a photon) reflect a similar misunderstanding of what a photon is.

I don't how strong your math and science background is. If you've been through a few semesters of quantum mechanics already, you could give "Quantum Field Theory for the Gifted Amateur" a try. Feynmann's "QED: The strange theory of light and matter" is a good start if you haven't.

But in any case, it is futile carrying on discussions based on misconceptions about what a photon is, so I am closing this thread.