Cutting a photon in two creates an infinite swarm of particles
Phys.org
Like any quantum particle, a photon exists simultaneously as a single, localized particle, and an extended wave, spread out across space.
By definition, elementary particles can't be broken into smaller pieces. But in a new theoretical study published in Physical Review Letters, Johannes Skaar and colleagues have revealed what would happen if you tried anyway for a single photon. The answer is deeply strange: attempting to cut a photon in two wouldn't produce two smaller photons, but instead conjure an infinite number of them out of thin air.
Skaar's team considered what would happen if a single photon passed through an optical shutter—essentially a very fast mirror that can be switched on and off to block part of a pulse of light. If the shutter was fast enough, it could intercept the photon mid-pulse, snipping off part of this extended wave. The researchers applied quantum equations that describe how the photon's underlying electromagnetic field behaves at the quantum level.
Rather than producing a photon on one side and a vacuum on the other, the shutter generates something far more strange and complex: a superposition of states containing infinitely many photons simultaneously.
Phys.org
Like any quantum particle, a photon exists simultaneously as a single, localized particle, and an extended wave, spread out across space.
By definition, elementary particles can't be broken into smaller pieces. But in a new theoretical study published in Physical Review Letters, Johannes Skaar and colleagues have revealed what would happen if you tried anyway for a single photon. The answer is deeply strange: attempting to cut a photon in two wouldn't produce two smaller photons, but instead conjure an infinite number of them out of thin air.
Skaar's team considered what would happen if a single photon passed through an optical shutter—essentially a very fast mirror that can be switched on and off to block part of a pulse of light. If the shutter was fast enough, it could intercept the photon mid-pulse, snipping off part of this extended wave. The researchers applied quantum equations that describe how the photon's underlying electromagnetic field behaves at the quantum level.
Rather than producing a photon on one side and a vacuum on the other, the shutter generates something far more strange and complex: a superposition of states containing infinitely many photons simultaneously.