Re: The time it takes to emit one photon



nightlight wrote: 
Now, gradually turn down the intensity of the light source up
to the point when just one photon per second is emitted. You
are now having Feynman's two-slit experiment. It's explanation
requires quantum mechanics.


You are misinformed on the empirical facts of this type of experiment.
Low intensity makes no difference in the correlations of the counts or
their classicality (the only thing that changes are photocurrent
intensities). What photo-detectors will show you is exactly what is
predicted by Maxwell ED plus the model of square law detectors (which
are perfectly semi-classical devices i.e. they don't require "photons"
or the 2nd quantized EM field for the explanation of their behavior,
cf. [1]). [...] 

I didn't want to discuss (anti)correlations, photocurrents and
detectors. The experimental setup I had in mind is very simple:

              Screen with
              two slits    Scintillating
                           screen
                 ||          |
                 ||          |
       /                     |
      /          ||          |
     O ---       ||          |       Observer
      \                      |
       \         ||          |
                 ||          |

  Light source

I just turn on the light source (with sufficiently low intensity)
and watch the show: there are splashes on the scintillating screen.
After some exposure time it becomes clear that at certain places
on the scintillating screen the frequency of splashes is higher
than at other places. This is called interference. If you think
this experiment can be explained without the notion of photons
and their quantum-mechanical behavior, I would like to hear your
explanation.

Eugene.

.

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