<..Photonics is not like Quantum Electrodynamics which is very well theoretically known and fits nature extremely well. I have also stated in various parts of this thread that Maxwell's field equations in their standard linear form are incompatible with the quantized energy field called the photon. Indeed, QED assumes the photon is a point, but real photons have spin, angular momentum, and energy, all of which necessitate a spatially extended entity. In QED we can't give the photon that and preserve the theory. To retain Maxwell we have to extend his field equations non-linearly, and so we get a 3 + 1 soliton-like entity which has a z directed helicity as a result...>
[Interesting, if heated, discussions here. I wish I had more time to participate. BTW katchina, I would also be willing to personally vouch for Frank Collucio's honesty and his stated independance from the SR company and technolgy]
And I question the accuracy of the above argument.
As I understand QED, a photon is most commonly represented by a pure momentum state, which implies that the photon is uniformly spread over space. Then there is also a position space where the position is initially localized to a point and the momentum is spread out over momentum space. A pure position state evolves immediately into a non-local position wave function. In either representation one can construct a wave packet. The momentum space and position space representations are connected by a Fourier transform, so the product of the uncertainty in position and the uncertainty in momentum is bounded below by a positive constant.
Where do you get the idea that QED sees the photon as a point? Do you have some reference for this idea?
A particle's spin determines its angular momentum and is not associated with physical extension of the quantum particle. An electron with a spin 1/2 is associated with a *two* dimensional complex vector space, not with a three or four dimensional real vector space. Arguing that spin requires spatial extent seems an incorrect understanding of spin.
Fwiw, I just got the Dataquest SR report and company white paper in the mail from SR. I look forward to digging in a bit more, though overload (but not lack of interest) will probably limit my ability to interact on this thread in any kind of timely manner. I read here when I can. |
