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Photonic prediction


Undertone

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{EDIT} I just saw the notice about the speculation thread. Trying to delete here and move there. SORRY!

I am sorry as I am trying to understand more about photons and how they work so this might sound dumb, but I was thinking about a problem/theory that needed some greater help. Also, sorry if this post is not appropriate for this thread, quantum theory seemed a good place to start on the topic of photons. Please, educate me on the topic! Any help/links/suggestions is appreciated.

 

First: Do photons travel in a straight line?

Second: How long does a photon last/exist?

Third: Do/can photons bounce/ricochet? (assuming the surface does not absorb/diffuse/etc)

Fourth: Can photons paths be predicable? Example: Using a photon as a cue ball on a pool table, if the photon is moving in a direction and hits the wall in the same place every time from the same angle, would it deflect/ricochet in a predicable fashion?

 

Fifth: In knowing the trajectory from the fourth question, could you back track the photons path to the point of collision, and beyond?

 

Sixth: Is it possible to use this data as a way to see the position of objects the photons bounced from/off of, a previous space/time where the photons bounced? Ie a form of time travel, or rather seeing the position of objects/forms in the past through photonic prediction.

At least in my head in its basic form/understanding, theoretically, wouldn't you be able to predict where an object was in space time by following the paths of a photons travel? It seems like it would work like radar, using all the bounces and trajectories, to form an image of an object moving in space time, yet able to see where the object was but no longer from the data of paths and bounces. The history, as it were, of the photons path. The variables of course are enormous for anything functional as a "time travel" device itself, but in a controlled, minimal/basic test, could it be reproduced? Has it already been done?

Edited by Undertone
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{EDIT} I just saw the notice about the speculation thread. Trying to delete here and move there. SORRY!

 

!

Moderator Note

 

You are asking questions, which is not speculations. The thread is just fine here.

 

Speculations would be appropriate if you had some conjecture about how photons behaved that you were trying to advance.

 

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(1) As much and little as light does. As a wave, light or photons diffract, more so if they wave been narrow.

 

(2) Until it's absorbed (there must be special and bizarre cases). From extremely short to as long as the Universe exists.

 

(3) As much and little as light does. Whether a reflected photon is still the same or an other one, who cares.

 

(4) As much and little as light does. Diffraction limits the accuracy of such a prediction. Other effects may happen meanwhile, especially at high energy.

 

(5) As a wave, photons don't have exactly a trajectory. One should not imagine particles as points. In cases diffraction is small, the direction is accurate, but then the side position is inaccurate.

 

More generally, particles are waves. They translate the idea that some properties, like the charge, the angular momentum, a unit energy... are not divisible, but these property can be counted in number of particles, and if the wave "decides" to deliver this property in some context, for instance at some position, then this unit of property isn't any more available, for instance at an other position. "Particle" does not mean "point".

 

In the case of photons, you're nearly always right if you propagate light as a wave but emit and absorb it in packets.

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First: Do photons travel in a straight line?

More or less, under the right circumstances. As Enthalpy mentions there is diffraction, and beams tend to diverge, but there are a lot of conditions where assuming straight-line travel is fine.

 

Third: Do/can photons bounce/ricochet? (assuming the surface does not absorb/diffuse/etc)

There's no way to tell if a reflected photon is the same exact photon as the one that was incident on the surface, but whether it's a bounce or absorption and re-emission, there is a phenomenon called reflection.

 

Fourth: Can photons paths be predicable? Example: Using a photon as a cue ball on a pool table, if the photon is moving in a direction and hits the wall in the same place every time from the same angle, would it deflect/ricochet in a predicable fashion?

 

 

Snell's law of reflection says yes, as long as the surface is mirror-like.

 

Fifth: In knowing the trajectory from the fourth question, could you back track the photons path to the point of collision, and beyond?

 

You could track its direction back to a source.

 

Sixth: Is it possible to use this data as a way to see the position of objects the photons bounced from/off of, a previous space/time where the photons bounced? Ie a form of time travel, or rather seeing the position of objects/forms in the past through photonic prediction.

This sounds like you're asking if you can see an image in a mirror. Photons bounce off of a tree and then off of a reflective surface. So yes, it's possible to do this.

 

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Just to add to swansont's answer to the sixth question ...

Yes we look into the past all the time as all light travels at a finite speed to our eyes. Our telescopes look billions of years into the past at faraway galaxies.

So yes it is 'a form of time travel, or rather seeing the position of objects/forms in the past through photons', no prediction needed.

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Question?If as in the double slit experiment,photons cannot travel in a straight line because of interference,how can it travel for thousands of years across space without interference?

 

In the double slit the opportunity for interference arises from diffraction and the presence of two distinct paths. In empty space there is nothing (by definition) to cause this. How is interference supposed to arise?

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In the double slit the opportunity for interference arises from diffraction and the presence of two distinct paths. In empty space there is nothing (by definition) to cause this. How is interference supposed to arise?

Do photons only interfere with themselves,or do they interfere with other photons?

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  • 1 month later...

What would be happening at the surface of the sun,a wash with photons interfering with each other?

Any destructive interference is balanced by constructive interference. It all cancels out.

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