Related papers: Wigner's Photons
To discuss one-photon polarization states we find an explicit form of the Wigner's little group element in the massless case for arbitrary Lorentz transformation. As is well known, when analyzing the transformation properties of the…
Einstein's photo-electric effect allows us to regard electromagnetic waves as massless particles. Then, how is the photon helicity translated into the electric and magnetic fields perpendicular to the direction of propagation? This is an…
We identify momentum/helicity probability amplitudes for the photon and find their relativistic transformation properties. We also find their behaviour under space inversion and time reversal. The discussion begins with a review of the…
The ``little group'' for massless particles (namely, the Lorentz transformations $\Lambda$ that leave a null vector invariant) is isomorphic to the Euclidean group E2: translations and rotations in a plane. We show how to obtain explicitly…
It is noted that the internal space-time symmetries of relativistic particles are dictated by Wigner's little groups. The symmetry of massive particles is like the three-dimensional rotation group, while the symmetry of massless particles…
The Wigner little group for massless particles is isomorphic to the Euclidean group ${\rm SE}(2)$. Applied to momentum eigenstates, or to infinite plane waves, the Euclidean "Wigner translations" act as the identity. We show that when…
Wigner's little groups are subgroups of the Lorentz group dictating the internal space-time symmetries of massive and massless particles. These little groups are like O(3) and E(2) for massive and massless particles respectively. While the…
We present a photonic wave packet construction which is immune against the decoherence effects induced by the action of the Lorentz group. The amplitudes of a pure quantum state representing the wave packet remain invariant irrespective of…
As Einstein's $E = mc^{2}$ unifies the energy-momentum relation for massive and massless particles, Wigner's little group unifies their internal space-time symmetries. It is pointed out that translational symmetries play essential roles…
Our main proposition is that field equations for all spins can be obtained from Casimir eigenvalue equations for Poincare group. We have already confirm that statement for massive scalar, spinor and vector fields in Ref.[1]. In the present…
The photon is modeled as a monochromatic solution of Maxwell's equations confined as a soliton wave by the principle of causality of special relativity. The soliton travels rectilinearly at the speed of light. The solution can represent any…
This note summarizes the physics and mathematics of Lorentz transformations for massless particles, specifically for photons. We provide a complete analytical derivation of Wigner's little group matrix and a closed formula for the…
It is noted that the Poincar\'e sphere for polarization optics contains the symmetries of the Lorentz group. The sphere is thus capable of describing the internal space-time symmetries dictated by Wigner's little groups. For massive…
We study relativistic effects on polarised photons that travel in a curved spacetime. As a concrete application, we consider photons in the gravitational field of the Earth, on a closed path that starts at a terrestial laboratory, is…
Wigner's little groups are the subgroups of the Lorentz group whose transformations leave the momentum of a given particle invariant. They thus define the internal space-time symmetries of relativistic particles. These symmetries take…
The concept of the Lorentz-invariant mass of a group of particles is shown to be applicable to biphoton states formed in the process of spontaneous parametric down conversion. The conditions are found when the Lorentz-invariant mass is…
Einstein's $E = mc^{2}$ unifies the momentum-energy relations for massive and massless particles. According to Wigner, the internal space-time symmetries of massive and massless particles are isomorphic to $O(3)$ and $E(2)$ respectively.…
The connection between spin and symmetry was established by Wigner in his 1939 paper on the Poincar\'e group. For a massive particle at rest, the little group is O(3) from which the concept of spin emerges. The little group for a massless…
The topology of photons in vacuum is interesting because there are no photons with $\boldsymbol{k}=0$, creating a hole in momentum space. We show that while the set of all photons forms a trivial vector bundle $\gamma$ over this momentum…
We present an operator approach to the description of photon polarization, based on Wigner's concept of elementary relativistic systems. The theory of unitary representations of the Poincare group, and of parity, are exploited to construct…