All Questions
91
questions
1
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2
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143
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Analogy between the Electromagnetic Field and the Schrodinger Equation
In this answer my2cts says "The electromagnetic field is to photons what the Schrödinger or Klein-Gordon wave function is to electrons." Could someone expand on this further? Is this just a ...
- 126
0
votes
2
answers
63
views
Which factors determines whether a photon is absorbed? [duplicate]
After some research, I figured out that all EM waves/photons are absorbed by atoms by exciting an electron from an orbital to an other. However, atoms emit only certain EM waves with specific ...
- 167
0
votes
2
answers
161
views
Electromagnetic field affect on hydrogen atom energy levels
If hydrogen atom is in the ground energy state it must be hitted by photon with energy higher than electron proton energy binding which is 13,6 eV according quantum mechanics. Proton have positive ...
- 119
0
votes
0
answers
25
views
Tunnel ionisation and how to interpret changes in potential curve
I have been doing some literature review on species ionisation to understand a particular mechanism that occurs when a high-intensity femtosecond laser interacts with molecular nitrogen to produce ...
0
votes
2
answers
195
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What happen to the electromagnetic waves when a photon's "wave function" collapses?
We interpret the electron's wave function as a probabilistic wave function. During a measurement, it has the probability to collapse to any of the eigenstates of the measurement operator based on the ...
- 393
25
votes
9
answers
6k
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Why does light travel in a straight line if the uncertainty principle is true?
I've asked this on different websites and never gotten an answer that a layperson can understand. Most people just say that light does not have a trajectory and then they do some hand waving. If light ...
- 361
1
vote
2
answers
134
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Quantum mechanical description of a photon arriving at a telescope from extremely far away
Typically, telescopes are explained in terms of bouncing light paths around. For example, this image from wikipedia shows "photon tracks" being redirected:
I realize this is a very ...
- 7,012
0
votes
4
answers
274
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How does blackbody radiation suggest the quantization of energy?
I have read about Wein's law and Rayleigh-Jeans law which were apparently based on classical mechanics and couldn't explain the radiation spectrum of a blackbody.
Then Planck came up with the ...
- 1,305
1
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0
answers
31
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Integrating Planck's relation
By Planck relation, we know that an energy of a single photon is $E = hf$.
If we are given EM-waves with interval of frequency $f_1$ to $f_2$, does integrating from
$\int_{f1}^{f2} Edf$ $=\int_{f1}^{...
- 275
0
votes
0
answers
50
views
Why does the Planck curve drop below the Rayleigh-Jeans curve for blackbody radiation when Planck quantized the energy?
This has been a research topic of mine for days now. I understand the Rayleigh-Jeans law and how it leads to the ultraviolet catastrophe. I have been searching for a clear, conceptual explanation of ...
- 434
-1
votes
3
answers
213
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Why electrons in an atom don't radiate photons?
Consider the $s$ orbital of an helium atom. The electron can be anywhere around (or even in) the nucleus. Electrons, like all charges, create electric fields. When the atom interacts with other atoms ...
- 793
1
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1
answer
90
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Assume a photon has a wave function, what can be said about its Hamiltonian and eigenvalues?
I understand a photon does not have an associated wave function, but what if we assumed a photon does in fact have a wave function. How would this look and how could its Hamiltonian be determined?
- 29
4
votes
2
answers
409
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How does a photon interact with a conduction band electron?
In conductors the valance and conduction band overlap so there are free electrons. If a radio frequency photon hits one of those electrons (as in the case of an antenna), what will that electron do? ...
- 41
0
votes
0
answers
733
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Degeneracy of Photons
The density of states for a photon gas is defined by,
$$D(\epsilon)=\frac{g}{2\pi^2}\frac{\epsilon^2}{(\hbar c)^2} $$ where g is the number of independent internal states for a photon. The question is ...
- 401
2
votes
1
answer
178
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Time delay between consecutive photon absorptions by atoms/molecules?
We are just getting introduced to some basics of quantum physics at school and in my nationally prescribed school book, its written that:
Planck assumed that radiation could be subdivided into ...
- 1,168