What Happens if You Cut a Photon in Half? The Answer Is Trippy
Physicists tend to think of light in terms of photons: massless, elementary particles “carrying” the forces of nature. And elementary particles, like the photon, are indivisible. That is, there is no such thing as half a photon.
- ▪Physicists tend to think of light in terms of photons: massless, elementary particles “carrying” the forces of nature.
- ▪And elementary particles, like the photon, are indivisible.
- ▪That is, there is no such thing as half a photon.
Gizmodo files mainly under tech. We currently carry 438 of its stories.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Physicists tend to think of light in terms of photons: massless, elementary particles “carrying” the forces of nature. And elementary particles, like the photon, are indivisible. That is, there is no such thing as half a photon. Or is there?cnx.cmd.push(function(){cnx({"playerId":"92b7b46b-43ed-4e0e-b21b-2c999302d9d7","settings":{"advertising":{"macros":{"AD_UNIT":"/23178111854/od.gizmodo.com/article","CHILD_UNIT":"article","POST_ID":"2000790363","POST_TYPE":"post","CHANNEL":"science","SECTION":"physics","SUBSECTION":"","CATEGORIES":"physics","TAGS":"quantum-physics,theoretical-physics","NOP":"0"},"timeBeforeFirstAd":0}}}).render("cnx-player-main")}); That was the question that three theoretical physicists tried to answer in a recent paper published in Physical Review Letters, bluntly…
Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Gizmodo.