- #1
leoneri
- 19
- 0
Hi, I am reading Introduction to Statistical Physics by Kerson Huang. On chapter 10 about Bose Gas, a statement intrigued me. He explains Photons.
"Photons are the quanta of the Electromagnetic field. They are bosons whose number is not conserved, for they may be created and absorbed singly. The Lagrange multiplier corresponding to total number is absent, and the chemical potential [tex]\mu[/tex] is zero. This means that the particles can dissappear into the vacuum."
I can't help but wondering myself if this is really true. If it's gone then where does it go? Is it disappear because Photon is a quantization of energy and not a 'real' particle? What is the definition of vacuum in this context?
From my Physics course, what I understand about EM field is that an exponential decay ~[tex]e^{-x}[/tex] only occurs when there is material (and hence not vacuum) that absorbs the photons. While in vacuum, the field will oscillate harmonically ~[tex]~ e^{i x}[/tex] and will goes on forever ...
"Photons are the quanta of the Electromagnetic field. They are bosons whose number is not conserved, for they may be created and absorbed singly. The Lagrange multiplier corresponding to total number is absent, and the chemical potential [tex]\mu[/tex] is zero. This means that the particles can dissappear into the vacuum."
I can't help but wondering myself if this is really true. If it's gone then where does it go? Is it disappear because Photon is a quantization of energy and not a 'real' particle? What is the definition of vacuum in this context?
From my Physics course, what I understand about EM field is that an exponential decay ~[tex]e^{-x}[/tex] only occurs when there is material (and hence not vacuum) that absorbs the photons. While in vacuum, the field will oscillate harmonically ~[tex]~ e^{i x}[/tex] and will goes on forever ...