Related papers: Photon: New light on an old name
Black holes are extreme spacetime deformations where even light is imprisoned. There is an extensive astrophysical evidence for the real and abundant existence of these prisons of matter and light in the Universe. Mathematically, black…
This paper explores the possibility of the existence of dark photons within the visible light range and provides evidence for their existence through a thought experiment. A new model of dark photons is established based on extensive…
Quantum mechanics of photons is derived from the theory of representations of the Poincar\'e group developed by Wigner. This theory places helicity as the most fundamental property; angular momentum and polarization are secondary…
A hundred years ago, the quantum concept provoked a revolution in science and the search of a new conceptual basis for whole physics, as emphasized by Einstein. In this paper, I discuss the essential features of Planck's works in 1900 on…
We recount the successful long career of classical physics, from Newton to Einstein, which was based on the philosophy of scientific realism. Special emphasis is given to the changing status and number of ontological entitities and…
Efforts to place limits on deviations from canonical formulations of electromagnetism and gravity have probed length scales increasing dramatically over time.Historically, these studies have passed through three stages: (1) Testing the…
An earlier forward and backward in time formalism developed by us to discuss non-relativistic electron diffraction is generalized to the relativistic case and here applied to photons. We show how naturally the zero-point energy emerges in…
This is a brief look at how Einstein explored formal symmetries between quantized matter and quantized radiation between 1903 and 1925. Specifically he employed thermodynamic comparisons between the ideal molecular gas and the photon gas.…
An interpretation of an electromagnetic quantum as a single pulse is suggested. In this context the Planck formula is shown to be equivalent to the Heisenberg time-energy uncertainty relation. This allows to treat the photon frequency as an…
That the speed of light is always c=300,000km/s relative to any observer in nonaccelerating motion is one of the foundational concepts of physics. Experimentally this was supposed to have been first revealed by the 1887 Michelson-Morley…
Since its inception, quantum theory has been the subject of fierce interpretive controversy, which persists to this day. Disputed topics include the basic ontology and dynamics of the theory, the role (if any) of measurement, the meaning of…
The rod photoreceptors in the retina are known to be sensitive to single photons, but it has long been debated whether these single-photon signals propagate through the rest of the visual system and lead to perception. Recently,…
The first three sections of this article contain a broad brush summary of the profound changes in the notion of time in fundamental physics that were brought about by three revolutions: the foundations of mechanics distilled by Newton in…
Photons are the ideal carriers of quantum information for communication. Each photon can have a single qubit or even multiple qubits encoded in its internal quantum state, as defined by optical degrees of freedom such as polarization,…
A notion of quantization is proposed that is independent of the original statistical interpretation of the distribution of energy in a photon gas or of the quantization of angular momentum in hydrogen atom. Such a procedutre implies the…
Einstein in 1905, his year of miracles, wrote five papers which mark a watershed between classical physics and modern physics. They dealt with problem of reality of atoms, theory of special relativity which overthrew Newtonian conceptions…
Planck's introduction of the quantum of action in 1900 was followed by 25 years of trial and error in quest of the understanding of the quantum world; different ideas and directions had to be pursued until the path leading to the elementary…
The purpose of this paper is to show that the composite photon theory measures up well against the Standard Model's elementary photon theory. This is done by comparing the two theories area by area. Although the predictions of quantum…
Erwin Louis Hahn was one of the most innovative and influential physical scientists in recent history, impacting generations of scientists through his work in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), optics, and the intersection of these two…
Newton's Principia, when it appeared in 1687, was received with the greatest admiration, not only by the foremost mathematicians and astronomers in Europe, but also by philosophers like Voltaire and Locke and by members of the educated…