Quantum Radio Waves

what's the quantum mechanical interpretation of a radio photon passing through a wall?
- Bassem (age 18)
ramboland

Although we aren't particularly used to thinking of single-photon radio waves, there's no real problem in describing them.The wave consists of a quantum field. Oddly enough, like any wave with a definite number of photons, it has zero expectation value for both the electric and magnetic fields. There are non-zero expectations for their squares. Passing through a dielectric wall doesn't really change any of this, although you do get some transient coupling to electronic excitations in the wall.

Mike W.

(published on 01/24/2013)