English

No point-localized photon states

Quantum Physics 2020-06-01 v1

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to critically examine claims that it is possible to construct point-localized state vectors for the photon. We supply a brief proof of the impossibility of this. Then it is found that the authors making these claims use a non-standard scalar product, not equal to the quantum-mechanical one. This alternative scalar product is found to be proportional to a Dirac delta function in position for the state vectors they use, but the remaining elements of the proof, namely satisfying all three Newton-Wigner criteria, are lacking.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2005.14378,
  title  = {No point-localized photon states},
  author = {Scott E. Hoffmann},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2005.14378},
  year   = {2020}
}

Comments

5 pages, no figures

R2 v1 2026-06-23T15:54:06.674Z