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arXiv · 0903.3712

Why photons cannot be sharply localized

Iwo Bialynicki-Birula·Zofia Bialynicka-Birula
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Abstract

Photons cannot be localized in a sharply defined region. The expectation value of their energy density and the photon number density can only be approximately localized, leaving an exponential tail. We show that one may sharply localize either electric or magnetic (but not both) footprints of photons, and only momentarily. In the course of time evolution this localization is immediately destroyed. However, the coherent states, like their classical counterparts, can be localized without any limitations. The main tool in our analysis is a set of space-dependent photon creation and annihilation operators defined without any reference to the mode decomposition.

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Iwo Bialynicki-Birula, Zofia Bialynicka-Birula. 2009-03-22. Why photons cannot be sharply localized. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.79.032112

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