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Trevor W. Marshall
local time: 2024-03-29 12:03 (+00:00 )
Trevor W. Marshall (Abstracts)
Titles Abstracts Details
  • The Zeropoint Field: No Longer a Ghost (2008) [Updated 1 decade ago]
    by Trevor W. Marshall   read the paper:

    We develop a local realist analysis of parametric down conversion, based on the recognition that the pump field, instead of down converting spontaneously, does so through its nonlinear coupling with a real zeropoint, or ?vacuum? electromagnetic field. The theory leads to the prediction of a new phenomenon ? that, in addition to the main downconversion rainbow, there is a satellite rainbow, whose intensity is about 3 per cent of the main one. Confirmation of this prediction will call seriously into question the current description of the light field in terms of photons.


  • The Myth of the Down Converted Photon (2008) [Updated 1 decade ago]
    by Trevor W. Marshall   read the paper:

    Parametric down conversion (PDC) is widely interpreted in terms of photons, but, even among supporters of this interpretation, many properties of the photon pairs have been described as ?mind-boggling? and even ?absurd?. In this article we argue that a classical description of the light field, taking account of its vacuum fluctuations, leads us to a consistent and rational description of all PDC phenomena. ?Nonlocality? in quantum optics is simply an artifact of the Photon Concept. We also predict a new phenomenon, namely the appearance of a second, or satellite PDC rainbow. (This article will appear in the Proceedings of the Second Vigier Conference held in York University, Canada in August 1997. A somewhat more formal version has been submitted to Phys. Rev. Letters, and may be found at http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/quant-ph/9711029.)


  • The Myth of the Photon (1997) [Updated 1 decade ago]
    by Emilio C. Santos, Trevor W. Marshall   read the paper:

    We have shown that all "single-photon" and "photon-pair" states, produced in atomic transitions, and in parametric down conversion by nonlinear optical crystals, may be represented by positive Wigner densities of the relevant sets of mode amplitudes. The light fields of all such states are represented as a real probability ensemble (not a pseudoensemble) of solutions of the unquantized Maxwell equation. The local realist analysis of light-detection events in spatially separated detectors requires a theory of detection which goes beyond the currently fashionable single-mode photon theory. It also requires us to recognize that there is a payoff between detector efficiency and signal-noise discrimination. Using such a theory, we have demonstrated that all experimental data, both in atomic cascades and in parametric down conversions, have a consistent local realist explanation based on the unquantized Maxwell field. Finally we discuss current attempts to demonstrate Schroedinger-cat-like behaviour of microwave cavities interacting with Rydberg atoms. Here also we demonstrate that there is no experimental evidence which cannot be described by the unquantized Maxwell field. We conclude that misuse of the Photon Concept has resulted in a mistaken recognition of "nonlocal" phenomena.