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Is a photon passing through a point in space blinking relative to that point?

If the photon for some reason destructively interfere with it self at that point, what happen to it? is it off or is it somewhere else?

By blinking I mean toggling between visible and invisible / detectable and not detectable or maybe fade in / fade out when considering its wave nature.

Edit When the wave goes to zero every half wavelength is it possible that the photon disappears every half wavelength? is it disappearing in way similar to what it does after a destructive interference with another photon only that it will come back completing the wavelength?

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In other words, does the fact that a photon as a particle disappears when the photon as a wave destructively interfere with another, means that the photon as a paricle also disappears at the point in space-time where its wave functon is zero between a crest and a trough? From Anna's answer and comments the photon is not regarded as a wave in its own but i dont understand this.

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    $\begingroup$ I'm voting to close this question because it's unclear what you're asking, as you lack to define unconventional terms $\endgroup$
    – InertialObserver
    Mar 25, 2019 at 5:34
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    $\begingroup$ @InertialObserver I edited the question, is it clearer now? by blinking I mean toggling betwean visible and invisible / Detectable and not Detectable or maybe fade in / fade out when considering its wave nature $\endgroup$
    – USER249
    Mar 25, 2019 at 5:52
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    $\begingroup$ Hi Amr. Are you thinking that because a wave goes to zero every half wavelength this means the photon disappears every half wavelength? $\endgroup$
    – John Rennie
    Mar 25, 2019 at 6:09
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    $\begingroup$ @John Rennie YES I think it disappears. $\endgroup$
    – USER249
    Mar 25, 2019 at 17:56
  • $\begingroup$ @AmrBerag You might be interested in “single Edge Certainty” at billalsept.com $\endgroup$
    – Bill Alsept
    Mar 26, 2019 at 23:54

1 Answer 1

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The photon is an elementary particle in the standard model of particle physics.

The theory at present has elementary particles as point particles in a quantum mechanical theoretical model using quantum field theory. This leads to the Feynman diagram representation of elementary particle interactions which leads to calculating measurable quantities, as crossections and decays.

The point nature of the particles appears when they are detected, and detection means interaction with other particles or fields. See this singe photon at a time experiment, the photons detected by the point seen on the screen on the left.

singlephot

single-photon camera recording of photons from a double slit illuminated by very weak laser light. Left to right: single frame, superposition of 200, 1’000, and 500’000 frames

As you see on the left, there are dots, not spread out energy. The wave nature of the photon is in its probability amplitude as expressed by the modulus of its wavefunction, in simple quantum terms. The wave nature can be seen only by an accumulation of photons, which build up the same frequency classical light as seen on the far right.

You ask:

is a photon passing through a point in space blinking relative to that point?

as the first frames on the left show, the answer is no, it acts as a point particle when it interacts.

If the photon for some reason destructively interfere with it self at that point, what happen to it? is it off or is it somewhere else?

Point particles cannot destructively interfere with themselves in the theoretical model of mainstream physics. They leave a footprint consistent with the probability amplitude that describes them mathematically

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  • $\begingroup$ Thank you for the detailed answer. Can the photon interact when the amplitude is zero? $\endgroup$
    – USER249
    Mar 25, 2019 at 18:57
  • $\begingroup$ The wavefunction of the photon is as all wavefunctions, variable in space and time. See for example arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0604169 $\endgroup$
    – anna v
    Mar 26, 2019 at 4:22
  • $\begingroup$ Thank you for the reference. I also found this in an answer by Dr Rennie: "Light is not a wave nor a particle but instead it is an excitation in a quantum field." physics.stackexchange.com/a/90657/226188 $\endgroup$
    – USER249
    Mar 26, 2019 at 7:14
  • $\begingroup$ Photons are quantum mechanical entities, interacting as point particles in the field theoretical model and manifesting a wave nature in ensemblles.. Light is the ensemble of photons. $\endgroup$
    – anna v
    Mar 26, 2019 at 8:10
  • $\begingroup$ Since a photon can not destructively interfere with it self, why is it showing an interference pattern? what is causing the dark regions? does that mean the number of green dots hitting the wall is the same number of photons coming through the slits? If yes is it becase of the probability of it interfering with another photon if it would have been there? $\endgroup$
    – USER249
    Mar 26, 2019 at 15:33

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