Chapter 61 Wave-particle duality, the end of everything
When Li Qiwei said in front of everyone that he wanted to end the wave-particle battle of light, the atmosphere in the classroom was instantly ignited.
Many students from other schools were filled with indignation and felt that Li Qiwei was talking nonsense.
“It’s shameless to say that a problem that has been studied for thousands of years and debated for hundreds of years cannot be solved by many great scientists. Why can he end it?”
“From a philosophical point of view Considering that the world is unknowable, everything is developing and changing, and we can only understand one side. Bruce Lee is a little proud.”
"Isn't it said that Easterners are all reserved? This Bruce Lee is completely different from what you imagined."
Unlike the mocking students, the physicists led by Professor Case were extremely excited, with eyes in their eyes. Full of expectations.
They know that the photoelectric effect proved by Ridgway means that light does have particle properties, and the wave theory is not correct.
But how will he end it?
Li Qiwei waited until the classroom gradually became quiet before continuing to speak slowly: "The paper I recently published in Nature magazine proposed the concept of light quanta."
"People who are not majoring in physics may not know that light quanta treats light as individual particles, which coincides with the particles of light."
"However, now I prefer to call light quanta directly photons. . ”
“Using the concept of photons, I have successfully explained the photoelectric effect, a problem that has troubled the physics community for more than ten years.”
“And the latest experimental results have proven that my photons. The theory is correct, so light is indeed a particle. "
"At this point, some people may think that my so-called third wave-particle debate is to support the particle theory. "
At this time, there were various discussions in the classroom. According to Li Qiwei’s previous narration, it seemed that this was indeed the case.
The first time it was particles claiming victory, the second time it was wave theory winning, and now he said he wanted to end the debate, and the third time it seems that particles claimed victory.
Is the essence of light just particles?
Several physics judges and teachers in the first row, as well as many physicists in the back row, shook their heads slightly. They did not believe that the facts could be so simple.
Professor Keyes suddenly thought of something and murmured to himself, "Could it be that Bruce Lee really thinks that?"
Amid everyone's confusion and waiting, Li Qiwei finally stopped covering up and continued: "No, I won't say that light is a particle."
"Because of Young's double-slit interference experiment and disk diffraction Experiments have strongly proved the wave nature of light, and no one can refute it."
"So, I think the essence of light is very simple, it is both a wave and a particle."
"Light has wave-particle duality at the same time!"
After saying that, Li Qiwei turned to the blackboard behind and wrote three English words: wave-particleduality.
quiet!
The classroom was deathly silent.
Everyone was shocked by Li Qiwei's bold idea.
How can an object be both a wave and a particle at the same time? This is completely inconsistent with everyday feelings and even logic.
Professor Case stared at Li Qiwei closely with his big eyes. The other person told him this conclusion last year, but he never understood it.
"It turns out that light has these two properties at the same time, wave-particle duality. This description is so appropriate."
"Bruce, you are indeed worthy of the name of genius! This kind of idea is simply amazing to the world!"
At this time, all the teachers and students majoring in physics were trembling with excitement. They were about to witness the birth of a great concept.
This kind of contradictory yet unified beauty is intoxicating. Physics is so interesting.
Looking at everyone's expressions, Li Qiwei certainly knew how much impact the wave-particle duality of light has on physics.
In fact, at the quantum theory conference, a few physics experts should have noticed it, but they did not dare to mention it!
Just like the quantum concept, the concept of wave-particle duality is also incredible and completely counterintuitive. Only a physics rookie like Li Qiwei, who doesn't know how high the sky is, dares to publicly express this view.
After today, the world of physics will once again stir up a storm because of him, and the wave-particle duality is officially born!
At the age of 21, Li Qiwei directly ended the debate that had lasted for more than three hundred years. The nature of light is so magical.
Professor Keyes could no longer hold back at this moment and took the initiative to ask the first question.
"Bruce, according to you, is it possible that the wave-particle duality of light is not the ultimate theory, but a special case of a higher theory?"
Li Qiwei was startled, it seems that Professor Keyes is not a generalist. This is a very good question and a difficult one to answer.
If we follow the later generations of quantum field theory, everything is actually excited by fields, and waves and particles are just appearances.
Not to mention string theory, everything is produced by the vibration of strings.
But now, these cannot be mentioned, so he said: "Professor Case, your question is very good, but physics is an experimental science after all."
"Any theory must be verified by experiments. Okay, judging from my current knowledge, I can’t find a more essential theory than wave-particle duality.”
Professor Case nodded slightly. He understood what Li Qiwei meant, and the development of physics also requires it. Consider the limitations of the times.
However, someone still objected, "Bruce, hello, I am a PhD student in the philosophy department of Oxford University. I have a question to ask you."
"Please tell me."< br>
"If according to your statement, light has both particle and wave properties, then at a certain moment, this moment is so short that the light has no time to transform."
"What is light at this moment? This state How do we think about it?"
Li Qiwei nodded slightly. It seems that Oxford also has talents. He said:
"The wave nature of light is easy to understand. Light is an electromagnetic wave. Waves appear as alternating changes in the electromagnetic field. "
"But the particle nature of light is not a particle concept in the macroscopic world. A single photon cannot be imagined as a small marble. "
"Photons only retain the concept of classical particles, and their essence is a discontinuous amount of energy."
"Therefore, Newton's laws of mechanics cannot be used to explain the behavior of a single photon."
"When time is an instantaneous value, photons propagate in the form of particles; when time is an average value, photons propagate in the form of waves."
"A large number of photons together will behave as waves, and individually Photons will exhibit particle properties. "
"Even if you observe light by detecting waves, light is a wave; if you observe light by detecting particles, light is a particle. "
"This is determined by the nature of the wave-particle duality of light. It is very different from classical physics. You can regard it as an axiom."
Li Qiwei also felt that his explanation was awkward, but he had no choice. , because if you want to truly explain it clearly, you have to come up with the concept of matter waves.
Any physical particles have wave-particle duality. The movement of microscopic particles requires the use of the Schrödinger equation to explain the essence from the perspective of probability waves.
Light is also a kind of microscopic particle, so its state can be explained by the wave function. The concept is a bit too advanced.
Even if explained by the standard particle model, photons are actually gauge bosons that transmit electromagnetic interactions, which is even more shocking.
The doctor of philosophy was stunned when he heard this. This was simply beyond his imagination. A single photon is a particle, but when multiple photons come together, they become a wave?
This is too unphilosophical. Could it be that the so-called quantitative change produces qualitative change? At this moment, he wanted to use philosophical logic to explain the wave-particle duality.
I beg you all to collect and read it.
(End of this chapter)