Electromagnetism as Quantum Physics
- Creators
-
Sebens, Charles T.
Abstract
One can interpret the Dirac equation either as giving the dynamics for a classical field or a quantum wave function. Here I examine whether Maxwell's equations, which are standardly interpreted as giving the dynamics for the classical electromagnetic field, can alternatively be interpreted as giving the dynamics for the photon's quantum wave function. I explain why this quantum interpretation would only be viable if the electromagnetic field were sufficiently weak, then motivate a particular approach to introducing a wave function for the photon (following Good in Phys Rev 105(6):1914–1919, 1957). This wave function ultimately turns out to be unsatisfactory because the probabilities derived from it do not always transform properly under Lorentz transformations. The fact that such a quantum interpretation of Maxwell's equations is unsatisfactory suggests that the electromagnetic field is more fundamental than the photon.
Additional Information
© 2019 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature. Received 03 October 2018; Accepted 05 March 2019; First Online 19 March 2019. Thank you to Steve Carlip, Sheldon Goldstein, Chris Hitchcock, Michael Kiessling, Matthias Lienert, Ward Struyve, A. Shadi Tahvildar-Zadeh, Roderich Tumulka, David Wallace, and an anonymous referee for helpful feedback and discussion. This project was supported in part by funding from the President's Research Fellowships in the Humanities, University of California (for research conducted while at the University of California, San Diego).Attached Files
Submitted - 1902.01930.pdf
Files
| Name | Size | Download all |
|---|---|---|
|
md5:2ded885eca7966c099b79ca291d27c51
|
1.9 MB | Preview Download |
Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 95516
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20190515-135120517
- University of California, San Diego
- Created
-
2019-05-15Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2021-11-16Created from EPrint's last_modified field