Light Waves as a Many-Particle Phenomenon
Year: 2006
Keywords: photons, light waves
Light possesses an independent existence while in transit from a source to its point of arrival. Waves and quantization are the consequence of many particles coherently forming rigid crystalline arrays. The mathematics of the Newton particle flux theory and of the wave in a medium theory for light are isomorphous. Both are valid for interacting particle ensembles only. The loss of interference below a critical intensity threshold proves the emission of photon bunches. Single photons are never involved nor observed in any experiment, the photoelectrical effect included. Single particles do not make waves. The Maxwell field theory, while yielding mathematical answers in agreement with some observations, cannot provide a physical basis for the existence of light.