Quantization of the electromagnetic field information
Quantization giving rise to photons
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
The article's lead section may need to be rewritten. Please help improve the lead and read the lead layout guide.(January 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
This article may be too technical for most readers to understand. Please help improve it to make it understandable to non-experts, without removing the technical details.(January 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Quantization of the electromagnetic field" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR(January 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
(Learn how and when to remove this message)
The quantization of the electromagnetic field means that an electromagnetic field consists of discrete energy parcels called photons. Photons are massless particles of definite energy, definite momentum, and definite spin.
To explain the photoelectric effect, Albert Einstein assumed heuristically in 1905 that an electromagnetic field consists of particles of energy of amount hν, where h is the Planck constant and ν is the wave frequency. In 1927 Paul A. M. Dirac was able to weave the photon concept into the fabric of the new quantum mechanics and to describe the interaction of photons with matter.[1] He applied a technique which is now generally called second quantization,[2] although this term is somewhat of a misnomer for electromagnetic fields, because they are solutions of the classical Maxwell equations. In Dirac's theory the fields are quantized for the first time and it is also the first time that the Planck constant enters the expressions. In his original work, Dirac took the phases of the different electromagnetic modes (Fourier components of the field) and the mode energies as dynamic variables to quantize (i.e., he reinterpreted them as operators and postulated commutation relations between them). At present it is more common to quantize the Fourier components of the vector potential. This is what is done below.
A quantum mechanical photon state belonging to mode is introduced below, and it is shown that it has the following properties:
These equations say respectively: a photon has zero rest mass; the photon energy is hν = hc|k| (k is the wave vector, c is speed of light); its electromagnetic momentum is ħk [ħ = h/(2π)]; the polarization μ = ±1 is the eigenvalue of the z-component of the photon spin.
^P. A. M. Dirac, The Quantum Theory of the Emission and Absorption of Radiation, Proc. Royal Soc. Lond. A 114, pp. 243–265, (1927) Online (pdf)
^The name derives from the second quantization of quantum mechanical wave functions. Such a wave function is a scalar field (the "Schrödinger field") and can be quantized in the very same way as electromagnetic fields. Since a wave function is derived from a "first" quantized Hamiltonian, the quantization of the Schrödinger field is the second time quantization is performed, hence the name.
and 26 Related for: Quantization of the electromagnetic field information
Thequantizationoftheelectromagneticfield means that an electromagneticfield consists of discrete energy parcels called photons. Photons are massless...
specifically thequantizationoftheelectromagneticfield and the development of quantum electrodynamics. The empirical investigation ofelectromagnetism is at...
quantum oftheelectromagneticfield, including electromagnetic radiation such as light and radio waves, and the force carrier for theelectromagnetic force...
amount of energy is radiated. However, unlike Einstein, Bohr stuck to the classical Maxwell theory oftheelectromagneticfield. Quantizationofthe electromagnetic...
light requires thequantizationoftheelectromagneticfield for a proper description and thus is a direct measure ofthe particle nature of light. In classical...
mathematical descriptions oftheelectromagneticfield that are used in the study ofelectromagnetism, one ofthe four fundamental interactions of nature. In this...
the lowest energy state (the ground state) oftheelectromagneticfield when thefields are quantized. When the Planck constant is hypothetically allowed...
theory ofthe free electromagneticfield (one with no interactions with matter) was developed via canonical quantization by treating theelectromagnetic field...
canonical quantization) may be called perturbative quantization schemes. At present some of these methods lead to the most precise experimental tests of gauge...
described the quantizationoftheelectromagneticfield as an ensemble of harmonic oscillators with the introduction ofthe concept of creation and annihilation...
physics, the history of quantum field theory starts with its creation by Paul Dirac, when he attempted to quantizetheelectromagneticfield in the late 1920s...
levels within an atom. Quantization is one ofthe foundations ofthe much broader physics of quantum mechanics. Quantizationof energy and its influence...
the universe, then all electric charge in the universe must be quantized (Dirac quantization condition). The electric charge is, in fact, quantized,...
Quantum control Optical phase space Optical physics Optics Quantizationoftheelectromagneticfield Two-state quantum system Spinplasmonics Valleytronics...
considering effects ofquantization; theories that incorporate quantum mechanics are called quantum field theories. In most contexts, 'classical field theory' is...
Landau quantization contributes to the magnetic susceptibility of metals, known as Landau diamagnetism. Under strong magnetic fields, Landau quantization leads...
Rañada, Antonio F. (31 October 1995). "A Model of Topological QuantizationoftheElectromagneticField". In M. Ferrero; Alwyn van der Merwe (eds.). Fundamental...
An electromagnetic cavity is a cavity that acts as a container for electromagneticfields such as photons, in effect containing their wave function inside...
dynamical theory oftheelectromagneticfield. This was the first example of a theory that was able to encompass previously separate field theories (namely...
quantization of the electromagneticfield for its explanation. The Casimir effect, where the ground state ofthequantizedelectromagneticfield causes attraction...
quantum field theory, it is known as canonical quantization, in which thefields (typically as the wave functions of matter) are thought of as field operators...
or quantized as in superconductors. The unit ofquantization is therefore called magnetic flux quantum. The first to realize the importance ofthe flux...
been successful. The presence of virtual particles can be rigorously based upon the non-commutation ofthequantizedelectromagneticfields. Non-commutation...