With multidimensional explanations of reality today, things we know may need to be looked at again. I've always been bothered by the concept of EM waves oscillating in two dimensions. The expansion of the view of EM waves to include a 4D aspect has some interesting implications. A 2D EM sine wave may only be the portion of a 3D EM wave that intersects with our 3D reality, in only 2 of 3 dimensions. Picture a photon orbiting the axis that is the propagation direction, as it travels. This would form a 3D helix, that when viewed in a 2d frame would be seen as a sine wave. The radius of the orbit would be the sine wave amplitude. The time required for for each orbit would determine the sine wave frequency.

 

This is just an intro to see people's comments. For me, this idea has a feeling of being a truism. If this is a possibility, how would it work? I do have some ideas I would like to explore.

Edited August 24, 201213 yr by roscojones

light works the same way in 4+1D as it does in 3+1D except that the magnetic field is no longer a vector field.

in 4+1D the magnetic field becomes a bivector field

 

a vector field has a vector defined at each point.

a bivector field has a plane defined at each point.

 

in 3+1D the electric field, the magnetic field, and the direction of propagation are always at right angles to each other.

in 4+1D this is still true.