Subject: The shape of a single photon
Anybody ever heard about this "far field" that energy travels to?

https://phys.org/news/2024-11-...

New theory reveals the shape of a single photon

A new theory that explains how light and matter interact at the quantum level has enabled researchers to define for the first time the precise shape of a single photon.

Research at the University of Birmingham, published in Physical Review Letters, explores the nature of photons (individual particles of light) in unprecedented detail to show how they are emitted by atoms or molecules and shaped by their environment.

The nature of this interaction leads to infinite possibilities for light to exist and propagate, or travel, through its surrounding environment. This limitless possibility, however, makes the interactions exceptionally hard to model, and is a challenge that quantum physicists have been working to address for several decades.

By grouping these possibilities into distinct sets, the Birmingham team were able to produce a model that describes not only the interactions between the photon and the emitter, but also how the energy from that interaction travels into the distant "far field."

At the same time, they were able to use their calculations to produce a visualization of the photon itself.

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