Is position not an observable of a photon?

In summary: This makes it impossible to define a position operator for them. However, there are other ways to describe the position of a photon, such as its interaction with other particles or its energy density in the electromagnetic field. Additionally, there are other position operators that can be used for massive particles in relativistic quantum field theories. These include the spatial part of the spacetime position operator and the limit of position observation based on the photon's wavelength.
  • #36
Again, I cannot stress enough the importance to forget about classical notions when one talks about elementary particles, and photons are elementary particles and they are even farther away from any classical notion of "particles", because they are massless.

Photons are described by the (asymptotically) free single-particle Fock states of the quantized electromagnetic field, no more no less!
 
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  • #37
Demystifier said:
Let me just say that a similarity between my name and the title of this article is not a coincidence. :biggrin:

I have to say I really enjoyed that article, well worth a read.
 
  • #38
blenx said:
One more question, you said a photon is a wave, then can you write down the mathmatical expression of this wave to us?

This is not as easy as it seems, It depends on which method you want to use to define the photon and which gauge you are working in. The simplest expression for a photon is |1> in fock space. If you want a "space-time" kind of wave you have a look at the paper "O. Keller / Physics Reports 411 (2005)" for example the equations in page 39.
 

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