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THE QUANTUM WORLD AND THE NATURE OF LIGHT
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THE QUANTUM WORLD AND THE NATURE OF LIGHT
by M Paul Lloyd » Jul 28th, '09, 15:32
By Donald Jones. (posted by M Paul Lloyd)
How do you explain the quantum world's behaviour?
Jim Al-Khalili, BBCFocus - January 2009
The problems we have arise from our misunderstanding of the nature of light.
Twentieth century physicists failed to recognise the pivotal significance of two points.
THE QUANTUM WORLD AND THE NATURE OF LIGHT
How do you explain the quantum world’s behaviour?
Jim Al-Khalili, BBC Focus-January 2009
I use the term ‘place’ very loosely. The places referred to here are not positioned in space by boundaries defined by coordinates. These places are determined by their dynamic states of motion. One place is a very special. It is a place described by the mathematics of the special theory of relativity. It is a place where time and linear dimensions, indeed the entire Universe, have been shrunk to zero size. In this place electromagnetic energy passes by instantaneous transaction from one particle to another. In this place every particle of matter is in direct contact with the rest. It is a place quite inaccessible to the scientist. He occupies an entirely different place. In his place he perceives distance between the components of the Universe. In his place the time taken for energy to pass from one particle to another is extended and is dependant upon their separation and the nature of the media between them in accordance with the mathematics of special relativity. In the first place the consequences of the transaction are instantly resolved, in the second there is a delay, a period of quantum indeterminacy, before the scientist can determine the outcome. Yet indeterminacy is not the only effect of this description of light. Here an event always involves two participants, The capture of a quantum of light by a human retina, photographic plate or CCD detector is part of the event under observation. Without participation of a such receptor there would be no second participant in the energy transfer transaction. The emission would never have happened.
1. The Request
I believe that I can account for some of the strange phenomena revealed by quantum science. The difficulties we have arise from our misunderstanding of the nature of light. I believe that in the early twentieth century theoretical physics failed to recognise the pivotal significance of two points. The request that I make is that physicists objectively review these points.
If the two points made are validated it should lead to a much improved description of light and allow the following enigmas or paradoxes from twentieth century physics to be resolved:
Quantum indeterminacy.
The EPR paradox.
Richard Feynman’s dispersed reflection of light.
Photon prescience.
The cohesion of an extended universe in its limited lifetime.
1.1 Point 1 - The mathematics of special relativity implies that the photon does not experience time.
As a general statement this is not contentious. it seems to be accepted by most physicists. However scientists have not considered the implications of this for the nature of light. In measuring the velocity of light an observer measures the time for light to travel a measured distance in the dynamic reality of his own particular frame of motion. But the light he observes is in relative motion to himself, in a quite different frame of motion. The mathematics of special relativity implies that in this special dynamic reality values of times of flight shrink to zero; according to the Lorenz contraction distances traversed also shrink to zero. In other words in the inaccessible frame of motion of electromagnetic radiation energy moves instantaneously .
1.2 Point 2 - Once the explanation of the emission and absorption spectra of materials was made in terms of atomic, molecular and metallic electronic orbitals the concept of particulate light became redundant.
The second point is an inference which was never made in 20th century physics. From the time of Isaac Newton the concept of particulate light received no credence until Albert Einstein’s interpretation of the photoelectric effect. Within a few years of Einstein’s paper the nature of atomic, molecular and metallic electronic orbitals was discovered. The quantised nature of electromagnetic radiation is a consequence of the existence of diverse energy states in the materials of emission and reception. The precise values of the electromagnetic energy are determined by differences in the energy states existing at the quantum level within the materials. The significance of this to the nature of light has been overlooked. Quantization of the energy meets the requirements of the electronic energy states of the matter involved in the event and need not be attributed to any fundamental character of electromagnetic radiation. Therefore after Bohr’s description of the atom a particulate radiation is not required in order to explain spectral emission frequencies and the photoelectric effect.
2. The Enigma of the Photon Particle
Once it is recognised that the photoelectric effect should be interpreted in terms of the nature of matter rather than that of light the evidence of a material particle called the photon becomes very sparse. It is true that many experiments have been performed based upon the assumption of particulate light. However it should be observed that some of these have produced very perplexing results such as those experiments performed on ‘single photons’ that appear to demonstrate photon prescience.
Generally it is recognised that the photon does not experience time and it is believed to have zero rest mass. It might be reasoned that it is illogical to argue an existence for a physical entity that lacks mass and does not exist in time.
The phenomenon of refraction poses particular difficulties for the particulate theory. The current understanding is that the velocity of light varies in different media. The notion of a particle instantly changing direction and momentum at the point where it passes through an interface between materials is quite incongruous with the principles of inertia and is contrary to the physics of all other bodies in motion.
In its journey from source to receiver the path of electromagnetic radiation is dispersed or dissipated throughout space. A quantum of light apparently strikes all parts of a mirror before reflection to the eye or detector. Yet to the observer it is as if a single beam is reflected from the mirror at the point where the angle of incidence of the path of light equals the angle of reflection. Only this route is unique and represents the path of the shortest time of flight. For all other points light reaching the detector is nullified by the destructive interference of light from other places of reflection. Richard Feynman, a developer of QED theory provided the mathematical solution for this but he remained perplexed over how such a conclusion could be reconciled with particulate light.
3. Towards an Alternative Description of Light
Although the implication from special relativity that the photon does not experience time is accepted by physicists in general they have yet to accept what must surely be a natural corollary, in the special frame of motion of a quantum of light electromagnetic energy is transferred instantaneously across space from source to receiver. The time of flight determined in our terrestrial frame of motion comprises a relativistic dilation dependant upon the apparent distance and the composition of the intervening media.
Instead of the process of the transmission of electromagnetic radiation involving the two separate events of transmission and reception separated by a period of time while a photon covers the space between the two it might be achieved in a single instantaneous event. The three stages of light propagation currently recognised, namely emission, transmission through space and reception, should be replaced by a single process, an instant exchange. Such a description can be accommodated by quantum mechanics. Atoms and sub-atomic particles do not exist as discrete points of mass or extremely small volumes of matter but are dispersed across space, the pattern of their location best described by a probability function A particle might have a high probability of existence at one special place yet there will be very low possibility of discovery at other remote locations. Such a description permits the possibility that, although separated by considerable distance, the wave functions of two or more particles might nevertheless overlap weakly within considerable volumes of space. This this overlap could provide a direct contact by which energy transfer can be instantly achieved.
4. Twentieth Century Paradoxes and Enigmas
The supposed limitations of the velocity of light have caused problems in the interpretation of the physical world. Considerable effort has been invested overcoming the difficulties both in quantum physics and other sciences such as cosmology. Diverse theoretical devices have been introduced in attempts to explain apparently instantaneous communication between particles across space, the cohesion of a universe with dimensions much greater than the distance light can travel in the duration of its existence and the phenomenon of force fields. Theoretical and experimental paradoxes were discovered which can be reconciled if the alternative dynamic reality where light moves instantly through space is recognised.
4.1 The EPR Paradox.
In the EPR paradox two entangled quantum particles travel away from each other and their common source until eventually one is detected and its state discovered. At the instant the first particle is determined the state of the second also is resolved to the alternative condition. Yet this particle might be considerably distant from the first so how can it know instantly to adopt the complimentary state when, according to orthodox physics nothing can travel faster than light?
The paradox has only been demonstrated experimentally using the photon as the subject ‘particle‘. In this case the concept of the paradox is misconceived. In the special frame of motion of electromagnetic radiation transfer of energy from the source to two remote receptors happens in a single, instant third order interaction. It might be that the higher frequency of the source light can be treated as the first overtone of the frequency of interaction at the receiver detectors, explaining why the original light is split into radiation with precisely half of the original energy. In the instant that the energy is transferred the quantum states at the separate receivers are resolved. However in dynamic realities other than that of electromagnetic radiation the consequence of time dilation causes differing delays between the emission and the two detections.
The notion of immediate communication across space might be applied were the EPR effect to be demonstrated empirically with material quantum particles. These entities cross space with finite velocities, measured to be less than the value c. In any physics there is a time delay between the instant the entangled particles are generated and that when the first is detected resulting in a finite separation. But in the dynamic frame of motion of electromagnetic radiation each quantum particle is always in contact with all others, entangled particles have a portal by which the resolved state of one is instantly available to its partner.
4.2 The cohesion of an extended universe in its limited lifetime.
Diverse theoretical devices have been introduced in attempts to explain the cohesion of the universe whose dimensions much greater than the distance light can travel in the time since its original creation. It is proposed here that all particles of matter exist in continuous and instantaneous contact with each other for diverse effects including the maintenance of force fields.
4.3 The dispersed reflection of light and Fermat’s Principle
In it’s journey from source to receiver the path of electromagnetic radiation is dispersed or dissipated throughout space. A quantum of light apparently strikes all parts of a mirror before reflection to the eye or detector. Yet to the observer it is as if a single beam is reflected from the mirror at the point where the angle of incidence of the path of light equals the angle of reflection. Only this route is unique and represents the path of the shortest time of flight. For all other points light reaching the detector is nullified by the destructive interference of light from other places of reflection. Fermat’s principle states that when light travels between two points, the path taken is that which requires the least time. The reflection of light by a mirror is just one example of this. Another is the refraction of light on encountering a change of the medium through which light travels.
These effects are impossible to reconcile with the theory of particulate light but are easily accommodated if the transmission of light from source to detector happens in a single interchange of energy between the dispersed wave functions of the source and receiver particles in the volumes of space between, and about the two. In the frames of motion of an observer, when the light is transmitted through a single medium the dispersed translation integrates to a single, straight beam by the destructive interference of light arriving at the detector simultaneously from different routes other than that of the unique, shortest distance. When the light passes through multiple media the situation is slightly different. Again only the light apparently arriving at the detector at the shortest time is not subject to interference from alternative path lengths, however the beam is not direct, the shortest time being achieved by optimising the distances passed through media where the value of c is high and those where the value is low.
4.4 Quantum indeterminacy.
A particular enigma encountered in quantum mechanics is the notion that the observation of a event somehow affects the outcome or triggers a resolution of the event. Until an observation or measurement is made the actual physical state of a system in question remains in substantively unresolved rather than merely remaining unresolved in the awareness or the observer because he/she has yet to make the study. In order to demonstrate what he saw as the absurdity of this quantum indeterminacy Erwin Schroedinger devised his thought experiment of the cat in a box But his attempt to debunk the notion was not successful. Although nobody seriously believes that a cat can exist in a superposition of alive and dead states, over the years the parable has come to be used as an illustration of the possible role of the observer in the resolution of the indeterminate quantum states.
The description of light proposed here permits an explanation. In this an event such as the release of a quantum of energy when an electron drops to a lower atomic orbital does not happen in isolation. Somewhere else in the universe another quantum particle, perhaps an electron, collects the quantum of energy and is elevated to a higher energy state. Were this second quantum particle to exist in a CCD detector or in the retina of the eye of the observer during a scientific study the observation would be integral to the event. Without the observation the remote emission of a quantum of radiation would never have happened. This event, instantaneous in the frame of motion of electromagnetic radiation is subjected to time dilation in the frame of motion of the observer. The energy transfer is extended in time in our terrestrial dynamic reality perhaps by a few milliseconds, perhaps by many millions of years according to the distance involved. This is the period of time when the condition of the cat remains imponderable, the period of quantum indeterminacy. Thus the period of uncertainty of the continuing vitality of Schroedinger’s cat can be reduced to the relativistic dilated time for the transfer of light energy across space.
4.5 Photon prescience
Since Einstein’s theoretical study of the photoelectric effect physicists have not only assumed the existence of the photon but they have grown to believe that its properties mimic the character of other quantum particles. Because a beam of ‘photons’ is much easier to create and study than a beam of any other quantum particle many experiments have been performed using electromagnetic radiation. Experiments with single photons in split beam optical benches produced enigmatic results which were used to emphasise the strange character of quantum particles when they really should have caused query of the assumption that subject of the studies was a particle sequentially visiting the various devices along the length of the apparatus.
Perhaps the most perverse empirical behaviour attributed to photons is prescience , that is their apparent ability to know the future. At one point in space and time they behave in a manner in accordance to a condition, yet to be randomly set, which they will later encounter in the experimental apparatus. Such experiments use ’single photons’ passing through a beam splitter to obtain two light paths. A special detector is inserted some distance down one of the beams that can be switched on and off extremely rapidly. The equipment has the ability to randomly switch on the detector within the extremely short duration of time that the photon travels between the beam splitter and the detector. When the detector is off the light from the two pathways exhibit interference, when the detector is on no interference is observed. Although at the time when the photon passes beyond the beam splitter the apparatus has not resolved whether to switch in the detector the photon still ‘knows’ to behave as a particle on occasions when the detector is eventually set to on or to behave as a wave when eventually the detector is off. The photon appears to possess knowledge of future events. The results of the experiment are described as ‘spooky’ or ‘weird‘ when really they ought to be regarded as compelling evidence that it is incorrect to consider light to be composed of particulate entities that progress along an optical bench sequentially visiting each component.
4.6 The Momentum of the Photon
Twentieth century physics understands that the photon at rest has no mass. This is difficult to prove, however it has been shown that if mass does exist it has to be less than an extremely low maximum value. Perversely, when travelling at the velocity c the photon has momentum, this is evidenced by the fact that light exerts a pressure on objects in its path. The Compton effect is a slight loss of energy upon reflection (reflected electromagnetic radiation exhibits a marginally lower frequency than the incident light prior to reflection) that is attributed to the energy of the recoil experienced by atoms at the surface of the reflector.
The description of light given here hypothesises a transaction between source and receiver which is instant in the frame of motion of the electromagnetic radiation. The source will experience a slight loss of mass as a consequence of the energy it loses in the transaction. In the frame of motion of the source the mass is lost at the apparent velocity c vectored in the direction of the receiver. In consequence it will recoil in a direction away from the receiver. The reverse of this occurs at the receiver. It will gain energy and thus additional mass. In the receiver’s frame of motion the mass is gained at the apparent velocity c vectored in the direction of the source. In consequence the receiver atom or ion recoils in a direction away from the source. The overall effect of the transfer of electromagnetic energy is the recoil of the source and receiver away from each other in accordance with the principle of the conservation of momentum. When there is an intermediate reflecting surface some of the momentum necessarily must be transferred to the reflector to satisfy the principle.
5. Summary
Special relativity describes a special dynamics for electromagnetic radiation in which time and linear dimensions are shrunk to zero implying the existence of an inaccessible reality where all components of the universe are in instant and direct contact.
A theory of particulate light was not required once the quantisation of energy levels in atoms, ions and molecules was understood.
A better description of light involves an instant exchange of energy between remote entities in second or third order transactions. In all experimentally attainable frames of motion the theory of special relativity requires dilation, so producing finite times whose magnitudes are dependant upon the apparent separation of the source and receiver.
Within such a description it is possible to circumvent the perplexing features of a particulate photon, better understand the properties of light and resolve a series of quantum effects and paradoxes.
Please note that this is the original work and exclusive copyright of Donald Jones.
How do you explain the quantum world's behaviour?
Jim Al-Khalili, BBCFocus - January 2009
The problems we have arise from our misunderstanding of the nature of light.
Twentieth century physicists failed to recognise the pivotal significance of two points.
THE QUANTUM WORLD AND THE NATURE OF LIGHT
How do you explain the quantum world’s behaviour?
Jim Al-Khalili, BBC Focus-January 2009
I use the term ‘place’ very loosely. The places referred to here are not positioned in space by boundaries defined by coordinates. These places are determined by their dynamic states of motion. One place is a very special. It is a place described by the mathematics of the special theory of relativity. It is a place where time and linear dimensions, indeed the entire Universe, have been shrunk to zero size. In this place electromagnetic energy passes by instantaneous transaction from one particle to another. In this place every particle of matter is in direct contact with the rest. It is a place quite inaccessible to the scientist. He occupies an entirely different place. In his place he perceives distance between the components of the Universe. In his place the time taken for energy to pass from one particle to another is extended and is dependant upon their separation and the nature of the media between them in accordance with the mathematics of special relativity. In the first place the consequences of the transaction are instantly resolved, in the second there is a delay, a period of quantum indeterminacy, before the scientist can determine the outcome. Yet indeterminacy is not the only effect of this description of light. Here an event always involves two participants, The capture of a quantum of light by a human retina, photographic plate or CCD detector is part of the event under observation. Without participation of a such receptor there would be no second participant in the energy transfer transaction. The emission would never have happened.
1. The Request
I believe that I can account for some of the strange phenomena revealed by quantum science. The difficulties we have arise from our misunderstanding of the nature of light. I believe that in the early twentieth century theoretical physics failed to recognise the pivotal significance of two points. The request that I make is that physicists objectively review these points.
If the two points made are validated it should lead to a much improved description of light and allow the following enigmas or paradoxes from twentieth century physics to be resolved:
Quantum indeterminacy.
The EPR paradox.
Richard Feynman’s dispersed reflection of light.
Photon prescience.
The cohesion of an extended universe in its limited lifetime.
1.1 Point 1 - The mathematics of special relativity implies that the photon does not experience time.
As a general statement this is not contentious. it seems to be accepted by most physicists. However scientists have not considered the implications of this for the nature of light. In measuring the velocity of light an observer measures the time for light to travel a measured distance in the dynamic reality of his own particular frame of motion. But the light he observes is in relative motion to himself, in a quite different frame of motion. The mathematics of special relativity implies that in this special dynamic reality values of times of flight shrink to zero; according to the Lorenz contraction distances traversed also shrink to zero. In other words in the inaccessible frame of motion of electromagnetic radiation energy moves instantaneously .
1.2 Point 2 - Once the explanation of the emission and absorption spectra of materials was made in terms of atomic, molecular and metallic electronic orbitals the concept of particulate light became redundant.
The second point is an inference which was never made in 20th century physics. From the time of Isaac Newton the concept of particulate light received no credence until Albert Einstein’s interpretation of the photoelectric effect. Within a few years of Einstein’s paper the nature of atomic, molecular and metallic electronic orbitals was discovered. The quantised nature of electromagnetic radiation is a consequence of the existence of diverse energy states in the materials of emission and reception. The precise values of the electromagnetic energy are determined by differences in the energy states existing at the quantum level within the materials. The significance of this to the nature of light has been overlooked. Quantization of the energy meets the requirements of the electronic energy states of the matter involved in the event and need not be attributed to any fundamental character of electromagnetic radiation. Therefore after Bohr’s description of the atom a particulate radiation is not required in order to explain spectral emission frequencies and the photoelectric effect.
2. The Enigma of the Photon Particle
Once it is recognised that the photoelectric effect should be interpreted in terms of the nature of matter rather than that of light the evidence of a material particle called the photon becomes very sparse. It is true that many experiments have been performed based upon the assumption of particulate light. However it should be observed that some of these have produced very perplexing results such as those experiments performed on ‘single photons’ that appear to demonstrate photon prescience.
Generally it is recognised that the photon does not experience time and it is believed to have zero rest mass. It might be reasoned that it is illogical to argue an existence for a physical entity that lacks mass and does not exist in time.
The phenomenon of refraction poses particular difficulties for the particulate theory. The current understanding is that the velocity of light varies in different media. The notion of a particle instantly changing direction and momentum at the point where it passes through an interface between materials is quite incongruous with the principles of inertia and is contrary to the physics of all other bodies in motion.
In its journey from source to receiver the path of electromagnetic radiation is dispersed or dissipated throughout space. A quantum of light apparently strikes all parts of a mirror before reflection to the eye or detector. Yet to the observer it is as if a single beam is reflected from the mirror at the point where the angle of incidence of the path of light equals the angle of reflection. Only this route is unique and represents the path of the shortest time of flight. For all other points light reaching the detector is nullified by the destructive interference of light from other places of reflection. Richard Feynman, a developer of QED theory provided the mathematical solution for this but he remained perplexed over how such a conclusion could be reconciled with particulate light.
3. Towards an Alternative Description of Light
Although the implication from special relativity that the photon does not experience time is accepted by physicists in general they have yet to accept what must surely be a natural corollary, in the special frame of motion of a quantum of light electromagnetic energy is transferred instantaneously across space from source to receiver. The time of flight determined in our terrestrial frame of motion comprises a relativistic dilation dependant upon the apparent distance and the composition of the intervening media.
Instead of the process of the transmission of electromagnetic radiation involving the two separate events of transmission and reception separated by a period of time while a photon covers the space between the two it might be achieved in a single instantaneous event. The three stages of light propagation currently recognised, namely emission, transmission through space and reception, should be replaced by a single process, an instant exchange. Such a description can be accommodated by quantum mechanics. Atoms and sub-atomic particles do not exist as discrete points of mass or extremely small volumes of matter but are dispersed across space, the pattern of their location best described by a probability function A particle might have a high probability of existence at one special place yet there will be very low possibility of discovery at other remote locations. Such a description permits the possibility that, although separated by considerable distance, the wave functions of two or more particles might nevertheless overlap weakly within considerable volumes of space. This this overlap could provide a direct contact by which energy transfer can be instantly achieved.
4. Twentieth Century Paradoxes and Enigmas
The supposed limitations of the velocity of light have caused problems in the interpretation of the physical world. Considerable effort has been invested overcoming the difficulties both in quantum physics and other sciences such as cosmology. Diverse theoretical devices have been introduced in attempts to explain apparently instantaneous communication between particles across space, the cohesion of a universe with dimensions much greater than the distance light can travel in the duration of its existence and the phenomenon of force fields. Theoretical and experimental paradoxes were discovered which can be reconciled if the alternative dynamic reality where light moves instantly through space is recognised.
4.1 The EPR Paradox.
In the EPR paradox two entangled quantum particles travel away from each other and their common source until eventually one is detected and its state discovered. At the instant the first particle is determined the state of the second also is resolved to the alternative condition. Yet this particle might be considerably distant from the first so how can it know instantly to adopt the complimentary state when, according to orthodox physics nothing can travel faster than light?
The paradox has only been demonstrated experimentally using the photon as the subject ‘particle‘. In this case the concept of the paradox is misconceived. In the special frame of motion of electromagnetic radiation transfer of energy from the source to two remote receptors happens in a single, instant third order interaction. It might be that the higher frequency of the source light can be treated as the first overtone of the frequency of interaction at the receiver detectors, explaining why the original light is split into radiation with precisely half of the original energy. In the instant that the energy is transferred the quantum states at the separate receivers are resolved. However in dynamic realities other than that of electromagnetic radiation the consequence of time dilation causes differing delays between the emission and the two detections.
The notion of immediate communication across space might be applied were the EPR effect to be demonstrated empirically with material quantum particles. These entities cross space with finite velocities, measured to be less than the value c. In any physics there is a time delay between the instant the entangled particles are generated and that when the first is detected resulting in a finite separation. But in the dynamic frame of motion of electromagnetic radiation each quantum particle is always in contact with all others, entangled particles have a portal by which the resolved state of one is instantly available to its partner.
4.2 The cohesion of an extended universe in its limited lifetime.
Diverse theoretical devices have been introduced in attempts to explain the cohesion of the universe whose dimensions much greater than the distance light can travel in the time since its original creation. It is proposed here that all particles of matter exist in continuous and instantaneous contact with each other for diverse effects including the maintenance of force fields.
4.3 The dispersed reflection of light and Fermat’s Principle
In it’s journey from source to receiver the path of electromagnetic radiation is dispersed or dissipated throughout space. A quantum of light apparently strikes all parts of a mirror before reflection to the eye or detector. Yet to the observer it is as if a single beam is reflected from the mirror at the point where the angle of incidence of the path of light equals the angle of reflection. Only this route is unique and represents the path of the shortest time of flight. For all other points light reaching the detector is nullified by the destructive interference of light from other places of reflection. Fermat’s principle states that when light travels between two points, the path taken is that which requires the least time. The reflection of light by a mirror is just one example of this. Another is the refraction of light on encountering a change of the medium through which light travels.
These effects are impossible to reconcile with the theory of particulate light but are easily accommodated if the transmission of light from source to detector happens in a single interchange of energy between the dispersed wave functions of the source and receiver particles in the volumes of space between, and about the two. In the frames of motion of an observer, when the light is transmitted through a single medium the dispersed translation integrates to a single, straight beam by the destructive interference of light arriving at the detector simultaneously from different routes other than that of the unique, shortest distance. When the light passes through multiple media the situation is slightly different. Again only the light apparently arriving at the detector at the shortest time is not subject to interference from alternative path lengths, however the beam is not direct, the shortest time being achieved by optimising the distances passed through media where the value of c is high and those where the value is low.
4.4 Quantum indeterminacy.
A particular enigma encountered in quantum mechanics is the notion that the observation of a event somehow affects the outcome or triggers a resolution of the event. Until an observation or measurement is made the actual physical state of a system in question remains in substantively unresolved rather than merely remaining unresolved in the awareness or the observer because he/she has yet to make the study. In order to demonstrate what he saw as the absurdity of this quantum indeterminacy Erwin Schroedinger devised his thought experiment of the cat in a box But his attempt to debunk the notion was not successful. Although nobody seriously believes that a cat can exist in a superposition of alive and dead states, over the years the parable has come to be used as an illustration of the possible role of the observer in the resolution of the indeterminate quantum states.
The description of light proposed here permits an explanation. In this an event such as the release of a quantum of energy when an electron drops to a lower atomic orbital does not happen in isolation. Somewhere else in the universe another quantum particle, perhaps an electron, collects the quantum of energy and is elevated to a higher energy state. Were this second quantum particle to exist in a CCD detector or in the retina of the eye of the observer during a scientific study the observation would be integral to the event. Without the observation the remote emission of a quantum of radiation would never have happened. This event, instantaneous in the frame of motion of electromagnetic radiation is subjected to time dilation in the frame of motion of the observer. The energy transfer is extended in time in our terrestrial dynamic reality perhaps by a few milliseconds, perhaps by many millions of years according to the distance involved. This is the period of time when the condition of the cat remains imponderable, the period of quantum indeterminacy. Thus the period of uncertainty of the continuing vitality of Schroedinger’s cat can be reduced to the relativistic dilated time for the transfer of light energy across space.
4.5 Photon prescience
Since Einstein’s theoretical study of the photoelectric effect physicists have not only assumed the existence of the photon but they have grown to believe that its properties mimic the character of other quantum particles. Because a beam of ‘photons’ is much easier to create and study than a beam of any other quantum particle many experiments have been performed using electromagnetic radiation. Experiments with single photons in split beam optical benches produced enigmatic results which were used to emphasise the strange character of quantum particles when they really should have caused query of the assumption that subject of the studies was a particle sequentially visiting the various devices along the length of the apparatus.
Perhaps the most perverse empirical behaviour attributed to photons is prescience , that is their apparent ability to know the future. At one point in space and time they behave in a manner in accordance to a condition, yet to be randomly set, which they will later encounter in the experimental apparatus. Such experiments use ’single photons’ passing through a beam splitter to obtain two light paths. A special detector is inserted some distance down one of the beams that can be switched on and off extremely rapidly. The equipment has the ability to randomly switch on the detector within the extremely short duration of time that the photon travels between the beam splitter and the detector. When the detector is off the light from the two pathways exhibit interference, when the detector is on no interference is observed. Although at the time when the photon passes beyond the beam splitter the apparatus has not resolved whether to switch in the detector the photon still ‘knows’ to behave as a particle on occasions when the detector is eventually set to on or to behave as a wave when eventually the detector is off. The photon appears to possess knowledge of future events. The results of the experiment are described as ‘spooky’ or ‘weird‘ when really they ought to be regarded as compelling evidence that it is incorrect to consider light to be composed of particulate entities that progress along an optical bench sequentially visiting each component.
4.6 The Momentum of the Photon
Twentieth century physics understands that the photon at rest has no mass. This is difficult to prove, however it has been shown that if mass does exist it has to be less than an extremely low maximum value. Perversely, when travelling at the velocity c the photon has momentum, this is evidenced by the fact that light exerts a pressure on objects in its path. The Compton effect is a slight loss of energy upon reflection (reflected electromagnetic radiation exhibits a marginally lower frequency than the incident light prior to reflection) that is attributed to the energy of the recoil experienced by atoms at the surface of the reflector.
The description of light given here hypothesises a transaction between source and receiver which is instant in the frame of motion of the electromagnetic radiation. The source will experience a slight loss of mass as a consequence of the energy it loses in the transaction. In the frame of motion of the source the mass is lost at the apparent velocity c vectored in the direction of the receiver. In consequence it will recoil in a direction away from the receiver. The reverse of this occurs at the receiver. It will gain energy and thus additional mass. In the receiver’s frame of motion the mass is gained at the apparent velocity c vectored in the direction of the source. In consequence the receiver atom or ion recoils in a direction away from the source. The overall effect of the transfer of electromagnetic energy is the recoil of the source and receiver away from each other in accordance with the principle of the conservation of momentum. When there is an intermediate reflecting surface some of the momentum necessarily must be transferred to the reflector to satisfy the principle.
5. Summary
Special relativity describes a special dynamics for electromagnetic radiation in which time and linear dimensions are shrunk to zero implying the existence of an inaccessible reality where all components of the universe are in instant and direct contact.
A theory of particulate light was not required once the quantisation of energy levels in atoms, ions and molecules was understood.
A better description of light involves an instant exchange of energy between remote entities in second or third order transactions. In all experimentally attainable frames of motion the theory of special relativity requires dilation, so producing finite times whose magnitudes are dependant upon the apparent separation of the source and receiver.
Within such a description it is possible to circumvent the perplexing features of a particulate photon, better understand the properties of light and resolve a series of quantum effects and paradoxes.
Please note that this is the original work and exclusive copyright of Donald Jones.
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