Timeline for Can a photon decay?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
3 events
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| Apr 20, 2018 at 4:45 | comment | added | PM 2Ring | If photons aren't perfectly massless then they travel at less than $c$. Sure, we originally defined $c$ as the speed if light in a vacuum, but that's kind of a historical accident. It's better to think of $c$ as the space:time scale factor, i.e., 1 second of time has the same magnitude as 1 light-second of distance. | |
| Apr 20, 2018 at 4:29 | comment | added | dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten | Hmmm ... I think this answer fails rather miserably to convey an important fact: strong experimental limits on the possible mass of photons imply that even if they possess non-zero mass there is nothing lighter for them to decay into. | |
| Apr 20, 2018 at 3:28 | history | answered | fhorrobin | CC BY-SA 3.0 |