The discussion centers around the implications of extremely high energy levels on the wavelength of electromagnetic radiation, particularly inquiring about what occurs beyond gamma rays. Participants explore theoretical limits, the nature of photon energy, and the continuous nature of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Participants express differing views on the possibility of infinite energy and the implications for photon wavelength. There is no consensus on the theoretical limits of photon energy or the terminology used for high-energy electromagnetic radiation.
Discussions involve assumptions about the nature of energy production mechanisms and the definitions of electromagnetic radiation categories, which may not be universally agreed upon.
I assume you are talking about photons. The theory we have says that the energy is inversely proportional to the wavelength, the constant of proportionality being Planck's constant multiplied by the speed of light. Therefore, as the energy increases, the wavelength will get shorter, meaning it will have a smaller value. I don't know what you mean by "... get compress and get higher in height when they get high energy ..."; wavelengths don't have height.Iceking20 said:Summary: How would very high energy(more than gamma ray)like infinite energy effect on its wavelength?
We can see wave length that get compress and get higher in height when they get high energy so how would wavelength react and it how it would look like when it gets high amount of energy(like infinite energy)?
Iceking20 said:like infinite energy
Jehannum said:after UV, X-rays, gamma rays, ... what comes next?
Photon energy is not an independent variable that can be increased indefinitely. Photons of any energy are a result of a mechanism that produces them. Photons emitted as a result of electronic or nuclear transitions are limited by electronic or nuclear energy level differences. Photons produced by particle-antiparticle annihilation are limited by the total energy of the particles being annihilated. What kind of mechanism exists that could produce photons of higher and higher energy? Obviously, that energy cannot be infinite, so what are the limiting considerations? (At this point I am content to having asked the question; I defer the answer to those who understand particle physics better than I do.)Jehannum said:I think the problem here is mostly language difficulty, and the OP is just wondering what happens as you get increasingly higher energies, i.e. after UV, X-rays, gamma rays, ... what comes next?
For infinite energy you'd need infinite frequency and zero wavelength.
I don't think there is a real theoretical limit for photon energies from particle collisions, other than something like (half) the energy available in the universe. Practically of course, our ability to build larger and more powerful accelerators is very much limited, but that is just an engineering consideration, nothing that would have to do with how photons or pair annihilation work.kuruman said:What kind of mechanism exists that could produce photons of higher and higher energy? Obviously, that energy cannot be infinite, so what are the limiting considerations?
The energy is frame-dependent, so can be made arbitrarily large just by adopting a frame in which the source is moving towards us with sufficient speed. Blueshift will take it from there.kuruman said:Photon energy is not an independent variable that can be increased indefinitely.