Photon as a Mathematical Concept in Theoretical Physics

[athosanian]

I always have some interesting on the photon. after I read the oscillator expansion of the electromagnetic field in a finite volume, I find photon is more a mathematical concept in theoretical physics than real particle.

not like electrons, number of photon is a representation of the energy level of a oscillator.by absorbing or emitting a photon the energy level of the oscillator will be changed.

thereofre not like electron the wave function of a photon is meaningless because the position coordinate of the photon has no physical meaning. But of course we can discuss the energy and momentum of a photon.

 

[Nugatory]

Is there a question here?
You won't get very far saying that a photon is not a real particle, as that will lead to a silly argument about what "real" means followed by rapid thread closure... But you are right that it takes a fair amount of math to understand what a photon is, and that the common sense notion of "particle" as a little tiny object moving through space works a lot better for electrons than it does for photons.