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Landmarks: Photons are Real

David C. Cassidy

Published Feb 1, 2004• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In 1923, Arthur Compton convinced most skeptics that in some experiments, light can act like a stream of particles, rather than waves.
DOI
10.1103/physrevfocus.13.8

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Quantum field theory describes the particle nature of electromagnetic radiation using the "photon," but has never explained why a fundamental particle exhibits such perfect wave behavior. This paper provides a complete alternative explanation: the photoelectric effect, Compton scattering, and antibunching experiments — landmark experiments considered proof of photon particle nature — require no photon concept. Quantization is not a property of light itself, but of the discrete energy level structure governing how bound electrons emit and absorb energy. Light remains a continuous transverse wave; discreteness results from electrons as "prisoners" in atomic "cages" that can only transition between specific energy steps. Waves propagate continuously and are emitted and absorbed in quantized form — the photon is not a particle, but the name of an energy-exchange event.