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Author: bighairymike   😊 😞
Number: of 48466 
Subject: The shape of a single photon
Date: 11/20/2024 2:01 AM
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Anybody ever heard about this "far field" that energy travels to?

https://phys.org/news/2024-11-theory-reveals-photo...

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.

... more at link

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Author: hedgehog444   😊 😞
Number: of 48466 
Subject: Re: The shape of a single photon
Date: 11/21/2024 10:09 AM
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Anybody ever heard about this "far field" that energy travels to?

That's just a way to make the math easier. Like assuming a spherical chicken. The sun is a point source if you are in the far field. Luckily we aren't in the far field of the sun, but we can treat all the other stars as point sources.

Rgds,
HH/Sean
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Author: bighairymike   😊 😞
Number: of 48466 
Subject: Re: The shape of a single photon
Date: 11/21/2024 4:55 PM
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>>Anybody ever heard about this "far field" that energy travels to?<<

That's just a way to make the math easier. Like assuming a spherical chicken. The sun is a point source if you are in the far field. Luckily we aren't in the far field of the sun, but we can treat all the other stars as point sources.

Rgds,
HH/Sean


----------------------

Thanks, I had never the term before. I had to look up Spherical Chicken and was pleased to find it rooted in the Big Bang Theory, the Sheldon Cooper comedy, not the beginning of the universe.
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Author: hedgehog444   😊 😞
Number: of 48466 
Subject: Re: The shape of a single photon
Date: 11/22/2024 6:17 PM
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Physicists (and scientists generally) often make simplifying assumptions to make the math easier. They are incorrect, but often are close enough to illuminate the problem and send one in the direction of an answer.

Isaac Asimov had a great essay in "Fantasy and Science Fiction" called "The Relativity of Wrong".
https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~dbalmer/eportfolio/Natu...

A quote from it:
...when people thought the earth was flat, they were wrong. When people thought the earth was spherical, they were wrong. But if you think that thinking the earth is spherical is just as wrong as thinking the earth is flat, then your view is wronger than both of them put together.

So things like "Far Field" and "Spherical Chicken" are shortcuts to simplify the math. Copernicus got most of what he needed by assuming the earth was spherical. If NASA were to use that same assumption astronauts would likely die.

Rgds,
HH/Sean
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