Photon
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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A photon is an elementary particle, the quantum of all forms of electromagnetic radiation including light. It is the force carrier for electromagnetic force, even when static via virtual photons. The photon has zero rest mass and as a result, the interactions of this force with matter at long distance are observable at the microscopic and macroscopic levels. Like all elementary particles, photons are currently best explained by quantum mechanics but exhibit wave–particle duality, exhibiting properties of both waves and particles. For example, a single photon may be refracted by a lens and exhibit wave interference with itself, and it can behave as a particle with definite and finite measurable position and momentum. The photon's wave and quanta qualities are two observable aspects of a single phenomenon, and cannot be described by any mechanical model; a representation of this dual property of light, which assumes certain points on the wavefront to be the seat of the energy, is not possible. The quanta in a light wave cannot be spatially localized. Some defined physical parameters of a photon are listed.
See also
- Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory
- Ballistic photon
- Dirac equation
- Doppler effect
- Electromagnetic radiation
- EPR paradox
- High energy X-ray imaging technology
- Laser
- Light
- Luminiferous aether
- Medipix
- Phonon
- Photography
- Photon counting
- Photon energy
- Photon polarization
- Photonic molecule
- Photonics
- Quantum optics
- Single photon source
- Static forces and virtual-particle exchange
- Two-photon physics
