Posted: Jul 08, 2018 10:57 am
twistor59 wrote:It's not a classical object so you can't really define its volume in the usual way, but you can define something which is sort of volumey.
Perhaps the best approximation to measuring a volume of a photon is to prepare many instances of a give single photon state, and measure which locations in space it's detected at and with which probability. It's fraught with challenges, since you don't know the exact emission time etc, but it would give a probabilistic measure of a "volume".
The best way to understand photons is to read this book:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Introduction-Quantum-Optics-Quanta-Teleportation/dp/0521835631
It has some maths in it, but not too much, and it explains things very well indeed. It's one of my favourite physics books which I wish I'd had as a student.
Thanks for discussing the actual topic, twistor59 (unlike cerain other posters), and I certainly agree that the subject is fraught with problems!
What does Harry Paul mean by "teleportation" in this context? (I haven't read the book.)