How can you tell if a photon has spin 1 or spin 2?

afcarval · Mar 30, 2011

The hypothesis is the change caused by interference in the absorption of photons ...
Spin 2?

Bill_K · Mar 30, 2011

afcarval,

Evidence that photons have spin 1 comes from the nature of electromagnetic waves. EM waves have a linear polarization, and their effects can described by a vector E perpendicular to the wave. Regarding the source, they can be emitted from a dipole antenna. All of these are characteristic of a spin-1 particle.

By contrast, gravitons (assuming they exist) are spin 2 particles. Gravitational waves would have a much different character. Instead of a transverse vector E they would need to be described by a transverse shear tensor. That is, alternate stretching and compression in both directions perpendicular to the wave. Likewise, the source of the wave would need to be quadrupole. Spin 2 waves could not be emitted by a dipole antenna, since they are quadrupole in nature.

How can you tell if a photon has spin 1 or spin 2?

Similar threads

Graduate How can you tell the spin of a particle by looking at the Lagrangian?

High School How can you tell if a spinning gyroscope is rotating without external references?

How can you tell if a source is reliable in science?

Can you tell parent from child by genome alone?

Graduate Understanding Spin States of Particles with Spin-1 and Spin-1/2

Graduate Can you tell how far a photon has traveled?

High School How can you tell redshift from a massive galaxy vs an accelerating galaxy?

Graduate Proof that a Dirac particle has spin 1/2?

Graduate How can you tell what force mediates an interaction?

How can you tell if somethign is a subspace with abstract info?