- #1
- 718
- 2
Are there any limits (or predicted limits) on what the frequency of light can be? It is possible to have waves with a frequency of 10^3000 Hz? How about 10^-3000?
1.Yes, there are the limits (theoretical and experimental) of a free photon to be formed and to propagate.ShawnD said:Are there any limits (or predicted limits) on what the frequency of light can be? It is possible to have waves with a frequency of 10^3000 Hz? How about 10^-3000?
Nothing in physics isn't infinitely large or small (sign of mathematical singularity in physical theory is a sign of sickness in theory).alpha_wolf said:- how do you know the universe isn't in fact infinitly large? Maybe it is (not the observable, but the entrie, or is only the observable size important here?)
Well,let him just write good sci fi books.If he said that photon hasn't upper limit he knows very little about quantum physics and role of the observer in framework of GR.Even less he might know about modern view of high energy physics as concerns this issue.Be sure photon of 10^100 Hz isn't theoretical possibility for observer at any stage of our universe development.jcsd said:No there's no known limit:
Isacc Asimov said...
Remember what your Assimov said,and calculate the energy of single photon with frequeny 10^100 Hz.Than calculate just for comparation the same [tex]E=mc^2[/tex] for the Milky way galaxy when you find estimate for m of the galaxy.jcsd said:Nothing in relativity prevnts you from doing this, in my post before last I gave an guestimate (I estimated this as a conventional cacualtor, even one that can deal with the immensley large and small figures will round them up), for the relative velocity of a refernce frame in which a visible light photon (in our reference frame) appears to have a frequency of 10^100 Hz, my guestimate being about (1 - 10^40)c.
Just on the contrary ,I'm saying there must be.In other words,it is not just nonsense to talk about 10^3000 Hz photon,but there's no sense even to talk about 10^100 Hz photon after the Planck time of Big Bang .The upper limit is lower than that . Not just becouse of problematic universe energy resources issues to achieve that,but becouse of ultrahigh energy physics unknown land where quantum field theory and gravity are in the mix.ShawnD said:So basically there is no limit, thanks.
Relationships between observer and gravity field experienced in different refference frames are of the high importance in this example.As well as the curvatore of spacetime if one wants to consider proper spacetime transformations.But the point is after certain gravity field strenght and gradient of the same theories go nuts.jcsd said:Yes I was aware that general relativity does come into play, but by having the phtoon local to the obsever, you wouldn't have to worry about the curvature of spacetime.
..., though while being untypical at high energies I don't think there's any known mechanism to exclude them as products.
Finally you seem to understand what I'm saying,even without issue of allowable energies of the photon.From both aspects (ie GR and quantum physics) sense of talking about 10^100 Hz photon frequency (or the frequency of any particle for that matter) losses meaning.jcsd said:it's just at the moment no-one can say with any real assurance as the theory does not exist do describe these situations.
The paper I (month ago) posted link of to PF:jcsd said:Do you have any papers on this, I know that parallel photons don't affect each other gravitationally in GR, so an event border to me seems wrong. Also I don't see why any photon shouldn't by the same logic have an event border.
ShawnD said:So basically there is no limit, thanks.
NateTG said:In GR and SR, there are no limits. In Quantum theories, there are limits imposed by the HUP.
Well,the paper will not tell you the answer to the original question,but gives some consideration relating treatment in transition from weak fields to the high fields.jcsd said:The paper does answer some of my questions..
It's true memoe above a certain enrgy and the photon will instaneously change into other particles on the slighest interation with any other matter, these partciles if produced by a stupendously high enrgy photon would be short-lived decaying into a multitude of other particles.
The frequency limit of light is determined by the speed of light, which is approximately 3x10^8 meters per second. This translates to a frequency limit of around 3x10^14 Hz, or 300 trillion cycles per second.
No, light cannot have a frequency higher than the limit determined by the speed of light. This is because as the frequency of light increases, its wavelength decreases, and at the speed of light, the wavelength becomes infinitely small.
The frequency of light is directly proportional to its energy. This means that as the frequency increases, so does the energy of the light. This relationship is described by the equation E = hf, where E is energy, h is Planck's constant, and f is frequency.
No, there is no minimum frequency for light. However, there is a minimum energy for light, which is known as the Planck energy. This energy is extremely small and corresponds to a frequency of about 1.2x10^28 Hz.
The frequency limit of light affects its properties in several ways. For example, as the frequency increases, the color of the light changes, from red to orange to yellow to green to blue to violet. Additionally, higher frequency light has more energy and can cause more damage to living cells, which is why ultraviolet and X-rays are harmful to humans.