Reflection/refraction probability

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The discussion centers on the behavior of photons when monochromatic light strikes a surface with a different index of refraction, leading to partial reflection and refraction. It highlights that there is no mechanism to predict which specific photons will be reflected or refracted, emphasizing the inherent randomness in quantum mechanics. This unpredictability is a fundamental aspect of quantum theory that has historically troubled physicists like Albert Einstein. Ultimately, the phenomenon is explained by the probabilistic predictions of quantum mechanics, which have proven to be accurate. The conversation underscores the challenge of reconciling classical intuitions with quantum behavior.
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I was watching Richard Feynman's lectures on quantum electrodynamics where he concerned the probability of photon to be reflected or refracted.

It is about, that since light incident on a surface is partially reflected and partially refracted, and light consists of photons, then what determines some photons being reflected and some refracted in a monochromatic light incident on a surface of material with different index of refraction.

Is there an explanation of this phenomena?


43:45 - 48:00
 
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There is no way to choose which photons are reflected/transmitted - nor any way to control it for a given setup.

This is the basic random aspect of QM which disturbed Albert Einstein ... the only explanation is that that is what QM predicts, and the predictions work.
 
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Thread 'Two equivalent statements of time reversal symmetric Hamiltonian'

Time reversal invariant Hamiltonians must satisfy ##[H,\Theta]=0## where ##\Theta## is time reversal operator. However, in some texts (for example see Many-body Quantum Theory in Condensed Matter Physics an introduction, HENRIK BRUUS and KARSTEN FLENSBERG, Corrected version: 14 January 2016, section 7.1.4) the time reversal invariant condition is introduced as ##H=H^*##. How these two conditions are identical?
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