Re: Quantum Function of Mirrors

On 2005-08-20, RHNL <rhnl@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> I sought expertise regarding the impingement of photon on electron--and
> subquential reactions. Umm, more simply what is happening at the quantum
> level when a mirror 'reflects'. You came through, made me think, (I don't
> usually).

This falls under the domain of calculating bulk electromagnetic
properties of materials. This is an active area of research in condensed
matter physics. Metals are pretty well understood. On the microscopic
level, reflectio is absorption and subsequent emission of photons by
electrons in the metal. Fermat's law of reflection and Snell's law of
refraction follow on average when many individual absorption/emission
events are taken into account.

> Curious, there is minimal research regarding mirrors, (and 'why images
> look like us' for instance), outside of QED cavity experiments.

The subject of materials science is very vast, I'm sure part of it is
devoted to mirrors. However, the basic properties and equations
governing reflection have been well understood for many decades. The
challege is in finding models and performing calculations that
approximate real materials increasingly well.

> The mathematical models--postulates--do not define the phenomena as yet.
>
> My posit is this: When interaction of light--photon packets--are defined at
> mathematical point of interference with individual electrons, a new
> definition
> might be created for 'reality'--that is, what we understand as 'reality.

Hmm, curiously vacuous. I'd also lump the "why images look like us"
remark in the same category.

Igor

.

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