Re: Gravitation and Maxwell's Electrodynamics, BOUNDARY CONDITIONS

Dear Bill Hobba:

"Bill Hobba" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> David Smith wrote:
> > > No detectable consequences.  Determination of self-interference of a
> single
> > > photon is not possible.  Only for a population of photons is a
> statistical
> > > distribution measureable.
> >
>
> Craig Markwardt wrote:
> > Taken at its face value, this statement is not correct.  The very
> > clever experiment by Grangier et al [ref. 1], first devised a
> > mechanism to select for single photons using a pair of calcium
> > transitions and a coincidence window.  These "single" photons were
> > then passed, one at a time, through a Michelson interferometer, and
> > fringes were produced!  I.e., the photon interfered with itself.
> >
> > The point is that addition of the interferometer introduces
> > uncertainty over which arm the photon passed through, and is thus
> > quantum probabilistic arguments play a role.
>
> Interesting effect - thanks for the reference.  However I agree with
David -
> the results of one photon prove nothing - you need to do the experiment
> several times (or equivalently with a number of different photons) to
> determine that is taking place.

The experiment he cited actually had a lot of photons emitted and detected,
I think you'll find.  But the rate at which they were emitted was such that
there was only "one" in the path at a time.  "One" being some number less
than one hundred, most likely.

I think Mr. Markwardt just wanted to patch a hole he (rightly) felt I had
left in the discussion.  Diffraction is a single photon interfering with
itself, a whole host of them.  The pattern doesn't change based on
intensity, only particle momentum and "slit" geometry can change the
pattern.

The question raised by Alexsandr has now been completely answered, I
hope...

David A. Smith