dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaEvidence from the Special Relativity and Blackbody Radiation Theories for the Existence of Photons Possessing Zero Kinetic Energy
| Authors | Robert J. Buenker |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/0501054 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0501054 |
| DOI | 10.1080/00268979200101331 |
| Journal | Molec. Phys. 76, 277 (1992) |
Abstract
The traditional interpretation of radiative emission and absorption asserts that photons are created and annihilated in such processes. A Gedanken experiment is considered in which kinetic energy from observed photons is systematically removed until a limit of zero is reached. With the help of the relativistic Doppler effect it is shown that even for infinitesimally small kinetic energies the photons continue to exist, since in other inertial systems they will be observed to have a much higher energy/frequency falling in an easily detectable range. It is possible to formulate an alternative explanation for absorption and emission processes on this basis in terms of real photons with exactly zero kinetic energy being present before or after radiative interactions. Bolstering this hypothesis is the fact that the statistical mechanical treatment of photons interacting with oscillators in blackbody radiation theory predicts an infinite density of photons of this energy, both in the original Planck formulation employing Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics and in the subsequent Bose-Einstein description. These considerations demonstrate that the E = 0 state is greatly preferred as the product of absorption because of the requirement to have the interaction occur in a relatively narrow region of space- time. There is thus strong evidence that photons are not created and annihilated in radiative processes but simply have their kinetic energy changed either to or from a zero value. Accordingly a very high density of zero-energy photons is expected to exist uniformly throughout the universe. Finally, this development suggests that one should subject the creation-annihilation hypothesis to careful scrutiny in other areas of physics as well.
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"abstract": "The traditional interpretation of radiative emission and absorption asserts\nthat photons are created and annihilated in such processes. A Gedanken\nexperiment is considered in which kinetic energy from observed photons is\nsystematically removed until a limit of zero is reached. With the help of the\nrelativistic Doppler effect it is shown that even for infinitesimally small\nkinetic energies the photons continue to exist, since in other inertial systems\nthey will be observed to have a much higher energy/frequency falling in an\neasily detectable range. It is possible to formulate an alternative explanation\nfor absorption and emission processes on this basis in terms of real photons\nwith exactly zero kinetic energy being present before or after radiative\ninteractions. Bolstering this hypothesis is the fact that the statistical\nmechanical treatment of photons interacting with oscillators in blackbody\nradiation theory predicts an infinite density of photons of this energy, both\nin the original Planck formulation employing Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics and\nin the subsequent Bose-Einstein description. These considerations demonstrate\nthat the E = 0 state is greatly preferred as the product of absorption because\nof the requirement to have the interaction occur in a relatively narrow region\nof space- time. There is thus strong evidence that photons are not created and\nannihilated in radiative processes but simply have their kinetic energy changed\neither to or from a zero value. Accordingly a very high density of zero-energy\nphotons is expected to exist uniformly throughout the universe. Finally, this\ndevelopment suggests that one should subject the creation-annihilation\nhypothesis to careful scrutiny in other areas of physics as well.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/0501054",
"authors": [
"Robert J. Buenker"
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"doi": "10.1080/00268979200101331",
"journal_ref": "Molec. Phys. 76, 277 (1992)",
"title": "Evidence from the Special Relativity and Blackbody Radiation Theories for the Existence of Photons Possessing Zero Kinetic Energy",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0501054"
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