Introduction My chat with Gemini about photons continued this week. This time I explored its take on visualization of a photon as a wavepacket. A traveling energy bundle, quantum of the electromagnetic field (aka photon field). A model that’s more useful – perhaps even weirder – than the trope of an oh-so-small ball. A chat… Continue reading AIsaysWhat.physics – the take of scrape – wavepacket chat
Introduction Last month I saw an uptick in my Google Web traffic for the question “How big [or large] is a photon?“ I’ve been exploring AI chabot takes on various topics for a while. So, I recently asked Google that question. How was the reply? Well, Google’s AI Overview certainly was better than you’d likely… Continue reading AIsaysWhat.physics – the take of scrape – photon chat
In quantum field theory, if gravity isn’t a fundamental force, how does it emerge? This article describes a theory of deep quantum electromagnetic interactions. Photon transactions (emission / absorption) populate a relational network of events which structures spacetime. According to the theory, each transaction gives rise to a pair of events in spacetime, effectively stitching… Continue reading Reframing spacetime – a stitch of events or pitch of time
Here’s a possible story which helps demystify quantum field theory. A personal visualization, which stays within the bounds of spacetime and avoids needless paradoxes. There are two key concepts to my sketch: the Grid and a quantum’s tail. This post lays out the second idea, namely, a quantum’s tail.
Table of contents IntroductionAbout gamma photonsSolar gamma photons INTRODUCTION Rays, radiation, particles, waves, fields … what’s in a name, eh? There’s a history [1], an evolution of discovery and understanding. So that sometimes a “particle” by another name is something more interesting [2]. While quantum field theory (QFT) has penetrated the way many physicists think… Continue reading Gamma photons – formerly known as rays – the extreme EM spectrum
[What’s changed in the last ~100 years] A recent Scientific American article reminded me that quantum spin underlies the stability of matter – without which there’d be no life. But the article prompted another dive into the “mathematical machinery” describing the quantum state of a single electron or a single photon. The Stern–Gerlach experiment established… Continue reading Quantum superposition and spinors – a saga of electrons
I’ve thought about this question for years. A FAQ. Imagine you’re traveling at the speed of light. Well, physics says that’s impossible. Mass’ gotcha. So, what can travel at the speed of light? Photons (not just the visible ones). So, imagine … does a photon “experience” space and time? Some weeks ago I recall reading… Continue reading A photon’s frame of spacetime — no rest for the massless
Reference: The 2018-2019 Watson Lecture Series, Caltech, Beckman Auditorium World’s Deepest-Penetration and Fastest Optical Cameras by Lihong Wang Wednesday, November 28, 2018, 8:00 PM – 9:30 PM Lihong Wang will discuss the development of photoacoustic tomography, which allows scientists to peer deep into biological tissue. He will also talk about his lab’s development of compressed ultrafast… Continue reading Imaging a light pulse?
[A creative writing exercise] The other day I was glad to see that I was far from alone in my puzzlement about how the so-called exchange of bosons (as “force carriers”) produces both repulsion and attraction. Modeled in classical mechanics as particles; in Quantum Field Theory (QFT) as gauge boson fields — force fields. In… Continue reading Virtual attraction
