The de Broglie Relations: Lorentz Invariance and Photons

From Natural Philosophy Wiki
Revision as of 20:00, 1 January 2017 by Maintenance script (talk | contribs) (Imported from text file)
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Scientific Paper
Title The de Broglie Relations: Lorentz Invariance and Photons
Author(s) [[]]
Keywords quantum optics, anisotropic media, special theory of relativity, covariance
Published 1988
Journal Physics Essays
Volume 1
Number 2
Pages 102-108

Abstract

A simple covariant derivation of the de Broglie relations breaks down when one considers propagation of light in an anisotropic medium. This breakdown results in two distasteful conclusions. The first is that the de Broglie relations are not completely universal and their covariance is restricted. The second is that wave-particle duality is not universal. In this paper a resolution of these problems is suggested, a resolution that is an extrapolation of ideas of de Broglie and Andrade e Silva. The relations are generalized for propagation in anisotropic media by defining a new phase wave with wave vector <img border="0" alt="1-vector" align="bottom" src="http://physicsessays.aip.org/servlet/GetImg?key=PHESEM000001000002000102000001%3A0%3A0%3A28&t=a&d=a" /> in the direction of energy transport and distinct from the conventional electromagnetic wave. The introduction of <img border="0" alt="1-vector" align="bottom" src="http://physicsessays.aip.org/servlet/GetImg?key=PHESEM000001000002000102000001%3A0%3A0%3A28&t=a&d=a" /> follows the method by which de Broglie associated a wave with an electron. The magnitude of <img border="0" alt="1-vector" align="bottom" src="http://physicsessays.aip.org/servlet/GetImg?key=PHESEM000001000002000102000001%3A0%3A0%3A28&t=a&d=a" /> is <img border="0" alt="omega" align="bottom" src="http://physicsessays.aip.org/stockgif3/ohgr.gif" />u/c2 where <img border="0" alt="omega" align="bottom" src="http://physicsessays.aip.org/stockgif3/ohgr.gif" /> is the angular frequency and u the velocity of energy transport. The physical meaning of <img border="0" alt="1-vector" align="bottom" src="http://physicsessays.aip.org/servlet/GetImg?key=PHESEM000001000002000102000001%3A0%3A0%3A28&t=a&d=a" /> and the covariance of physical laws in the presence of matter are discussed. An experiment is described that would test the existence of the phase wave associated with the new wave vector <img border="0" alt="1-vector" align="bottom" src="http://physicsessays.aip.org/servlet/GetImg?key=PHESEM000001000002000102000001%3A0%3A0%3A28&t=a&d=a" />. This experiment is essentially a Hanbury Brown-Twiss correlation experiment carried out within an anisotropic crystal.