Where's the Photon in Electromagnetism?

richerrich
Messages
33
Reaction score
0
While light's photon is manifested where's the photon in electromagnetic radiation? Does it show up in some materials?
Thanks
 
Physics news on Phys.org
richerrich said:
While light's photon is manifested where's the photon in electromagnetic radiation? Does it show up in some materials?
Thanks

I don't understand what you mean by "where"? You can see where a photon hits a detector screen... is that what you're getting at? I'm also not clear if you understand that light IS electromagnetic radiation, and all EM spectra has the same quanta: the photon.
 
nismaratwork said:
I don't understand what you mean by "where"? You can see where a photon hits a detector screen... is that what you're getting at? I'm also not clear if you understand that light IS electromagnetic radiation, and all EM spectra has the same quanta: the photon.

In the double slit experiment for example, if we replace the light 'gun' with an electromagnetic 'gun' will we expect to see photons also or do we have to replace the detector screen that reacts to electromagnetic radiation.
 
Hi there,

I have the same comment as nismaratwork. Since light is an electromagnetic radiation, what would differ in your "gun", whether visible light or any other electromagnetic radiation is emitted?

Cheers
 
Thank you for your replies because of which i have cleared up my own confusion: it has something to do with the 'detector' screen. If such screen merely reflects photons then we get to see light's bands but not other electromagnetic radiation because of course our eyes are only sensitive to light's frequency, but if the detector screen will somehow chemically react to the photons enough to create big visible spots (for example) then regardless of which electromagnetic radiation we'll see the bands.

I got confused with what detector screens are used by these online double slit experiment videos.
 
Last edited:
Photons are governed by quantum mechanical effects.
 
Not an expert in QM. AFAIK, Schrödinger's equation is quite different from the classical wave equation. The former is an equation for the dynamics of the state of a (quantum?) system, the latter is an equation for the dynamics of a (classical) degree of freedom. As a matter of fact, Schrödinger's equation is first order in time derivatives, while the classical wave equation is second order. But, AFAIK, Schrödinger's equation is a wave equation; only its interpretation makes it non-classical...
Insights auto threads is broken atm, so I'm manually creating these for new Insight articles. Towards the end of the first lecture for the Qiskit Global Summer School 2025, Foundations of Quantum Mechanics, Olivia Lanes (Global Lead, Content and Education IBM) stated... Source: https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/quantum-entanglement-is-a-kinematic-fact-not-a-dynamical-effect/ by @RUTA
Is it possible, and fruitful, to use certain conceptual and technical tools from effective field theory (coarse-graining/integrating-out, power-counting, matching, RG) to think about the relationship between the fundamental (quantum) and the emergent (classical), both to account for the quasi-autonomy of the classical level and to quantify residual quantum corrections? By “emergent,” I mean the following: after integrating out fast/irrelevant quantum degrees of freedom (high-energy modes...
Back
Top