A linearly polarized electromagnetic wave as a swarm of photons half of which have spin −1 and half of which have spin +1

Gerrit Coddens (1)

1 LSI - Laboratoire des Solides Irradiés - Irradiated Solids Laboratory

We illustrate our solution for the particle-wave duality and the paradox of the cat of Schr\"odinger on the example of the photons which occur in a linearly polarized electromagnetic wave. The +1 and -1 spin states correspond to the left and right circular polarizations, as pointed out by Raman and Bhagavantam \cite{Raman}. This example provides also insight into the solutions of some other puzzles, e.g. how electromagnetic waves can propagate in vacuum, the supposed collapse of the wave function, the quantization of the electromagnetic wave, the reason for the Born rule and why we can solve quantum-mechanical wave equations by adopting boundary conditions that correspond to a coherent source even if the source is incoherent.

Mots clés: Quantum Mechanics; Electromagnetic wave; Schrödinger's cat; Particle-wave duality

Domaines: Physique mathématique [math-ph]

Gerrit Coddens. A linearly polarized electromagnetic wave as a swarm of photons half of which have spin −1 and half of which have spin +1. 2020. ⟨hal-02636464v3⟩