How can I apply quantum mechanics to describe a photon gas in a box?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Amok
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Box Photon Qm
Amok
Messages
254
Reaction score
1
I should know how to do this, but I've been getting a bit confused. Can you solve the particle in a box problem considering that the particle is a massless photon? I'm not so sure on how to write the Hamiltonian correctly for this problem.

EDIT: Ok, to add some information, I'm actually looking at the "photon gas in a box" problem, and apparently the equations describing the electromagnetic radiation give quantized energy (just like the one for a particle in a box), but I can't seem to get there by myself. Maybe there's some fundamental thing I'm not getting.
 
Last edited:
Physics news on Phys.org
Your question is reffering to the wave function of a photon or to the photon gas problem ?

You can take a look here for the first:
The photon wave function , I. Bialynicki-Birula , Coherence and Quantum Optics VII, Eds. J.H.Eberly, L.Mandel, and E.Wolf., Plenum, New York, 1996, p. 313

You can get the article from the author's web page.

The second is, if i remember correctly, a standard problem found in many books on Statistical Mechanics.

Additionally, take a look here
https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=206721
 
|squeezed> said:
Your question is reffering to the wave function of a photon or to the photon gas problem ?

You can take a look here for the first:
The photon wave function , I. Bialynicki-Birula , Coherence and Quantum Optics VII, Eds. J.H.Eberly, L.Mandel, and E.Wolf., Plenum, New York, 1996, p. 313

You can get the article from the author's web page.

The second is, if i remember correctly, a standard problem found in many books on Statistical Mechanics.

Additionally, take a look here
https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=206721


Thank you for replying. I understand the statistical mechanics part of it well. In my course (which is about statistical mechanics), the electromagnetic radiation inside the box is treated classically, by using standing waves (which actually gives rise to quantization!). I don't really need to know this, I was wondering how you would treat those photons with QM. Once again, thanks for replying, I'll be sure to check out the info you gave me as soon as I have the time.
 
I am not sure if this belongs in the biology section, but it appears more of a quantum physics question. Mike Wiest, Associate Professor of Neuroscience at Wellesley College in the US. In 2024 he published the results of an experiment on anaesthesia which purported to point to a role of quantum processes in consciousness; here is a popular exposition: https://neurosciencenews.com/quantum-process-consciousness-27624/ As my expertise in neuroscience doesn't reach up to an ant's ear...
Insights auto threads is broken atm, so I'm manually creating these for new Insight articles. Towards the end of the first lecture for the Qiskit Global Summer School 2025, Foundations of Quantum Mechanics, Olivia Lanes (Global Lead, Content and Education IBM) stated... Source: https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/quantum-entanglement-is-a-kinematic-fact-not-a-dynamical-effect/ by @RUTA
I am reading WHAT IS A QUANTUM FIELD THEORY?" A First Introduction for Mathematicians. The author states (2.4 Finite versus Continuous Models) that the use of continuity causes the infinities in QFT: 'Mathematicians are trained to think of physical space as R3. But our continuous model of physical space as R3 is of course an idealization, both at the scale of the very large and at the scale of the very small. This idealization has proved to be very powerful, but in the case of Quantum...
Back
Top