The discovery of the Planck relation is generally regarded as the starting point of quantum physics.Planck＇s constant h is now regarded as one of the most important universal constants.The physical nature of h,howeve...The discovery of the Planck relation is generally regarded as the starting point of quantum physics.Planck＇s constant h is now regarded as one of the most important universal constants.The physical nature of h,however,has not been well understood.It was originally suggested as a fitting constant to explain the black-body radiation.Although Planck had proposed a theoretical justification of h,he was never satisfied with that.To solve this outstanding problem,we use the Maxwell theory to directly calculate the energy and momentum of a radiation wave packet.We find that the energy of the wave packet is indeed proportional to its oscillation frequency.This allows us to derive the value of Planck＇s constant.Furthermore,we show that the emission and transmission of a photon follows the all-or-none principle.The ＂strength＂ of the wave packet can be characterized by ζ,which represents the integrated strength of the vector potential along a transverse axis.We reason that ζ should have a fixed cut-off value for all photons.Our results suggest that a wave packet can behave like a particle.This offers a simple explanation to the recent satellite observations that the cosmic microwave background follows closely the black-body radiation as predicted by Planck＇s law.展开更多
It was predicted by Einstein that energy and mass can be converted between each other. But why? Energy and mass are two very different physical concepts. How can they be exchanged with each other? We think the key to ...It was predicted by Einstein that energy and mass can be converted between each other. But why? Energy and mass are two very different physical concepts. How can they be exchanged with each other? We think the key to answer this question is to recall that a particle can behave like a wave. Particle properties like energy and momentum are known to be related to their corresponding wave properties (frequency and wave vector). Mass is clearly a particle property;is it also related to a wave property? This study suggests that it is. We found that mass and energy appear to share similar physical nature in the wave perspective. Both of them are related to the curvature of bending the vacuum medium during the propagation of the excitation wave. This similarity explains why they are convertible.展开更多
基金Project partially supported by the Research Grant Council of Hong Kong,China(Grant No.RGC 660207)the Macro-Science Program,Hong Kong University of Science and Technology,China(Grant No.DCC 00/01.SC01)
文摘The discovery of the Planck relation is generally regarded as the starting point of quantum physics.Planck＇s constant h is now regarded as one of the most important universal constants.The physical nature of h,however,has not been well understood.It was originally suggested as a fitting constant to explain the black-body radiation.Although Planck had proposed a theoretical justification of h,he was never satisfied with that.To solve this outstanding problem,we use the Maxwell theory to directly calculate the energy and momentum of a radiation wave packet.We find that the energy of the wave packet is indeed proportional to its oscillation frequency.This allows us to derive the value of Planck＇s constant.Furthermore,we show that the emission and transmission of a photon follows the all-or-none principle.The ＂strength＂ of the wave packet can be characterized by ζ,which represents the integrated strength of the vector potential along a transverse axis.We reason that ζ should have a fixed cut-off value for all photons.Our results suggest that a wave packet can behave like a particle.This offers a simple explanation to the recent satellite observations that the cosmic microwave background follows closely the black-body radiation as predicted by Planck＇s law.
文摘It was predicted by Einstein that energy and mass can be converted between each other. But why? Energy and mass are two very different physical concepts. How can they be exchanged with each other? We think the key to answer this question is to recall that a particle can behave like a wave. Particle properties like energy and momentum are known to be related to their corresponding wave properties (frequency and wave vector). Mass is clearly a particle property;is it also related to a wave property? This study suggests that it is. We found that mass and energy appear to share similar physical nature in the wave perspective. Both of them are related to the curvature of bending the vacuum medium during the propagation of the excitation wave. This similarity explains why they are convertible.
