The presence of a pilot wave around every particle helps smooth out minor irregularities that would otherwise lead to scatter. Tiny photons interacting with the lattice of atoms would scatter all over the place if it was not for the pilot wave.
Pilot wave smoothing out the interaction between a photon and a lattice of reflecting atoms
This ability of the pilot wave to smooth out interactions between photons and atoms can also be used to explain the behavior of light passing through a transparent medium.
The slalom analogy used in my book becomes a whole lot less eccentric once the pilot wave is taken into account.
From experience we know that light can either reflect off of a transparent surface, or pass through it. The effect we get depends on the angle of the light as it hits the surface.
Light hitting a transparent surface at a slant angle will reflect. The pilot waves provide enough resistance to send the incoming photons back out.
Light hitting a transparent surface at a more acute angle passes through the medium. The pilot wave breaks through the lattice.
Pilot waves guiding red photons through a transparent lattice
Red photons have smaller pilot waves than blue ones. They can slalom more directly through the lattice than the blue photons. They get through the lattice quicker than blue photons due to their shorter paths.
This also explains why very low energy photons do not pass through glass. They do not have the momentum to push their pilot waves through the lattice, and are therefore reflected.
Very high energy photons, on the other hand, can be stopped by adding led to the lattice. The heavy led atoms stop the high energy photons as they try to crash their way through the lattice.
Once the pilot wave is taken into account, it becomes easier to explain the fact that glass is perfectly transparent only for photons in a specific energy range.
No comments:
Post a Comment