Re: More on superluminal light

[Jim Green <JMGreen@SISNA.COM>]

>  AIP ... describes ... superluminal light as an inteference phenomenon
> -having to do with the
> difference between phase and group velocity.
....
>    Therefore, if we think in terms of individual photons, is it fair to say
> that the existence of superluminal light is a consequence of the uncertainty
> principle?

I am always very uneasy when one mixes the concepts of "photons" and of
"waves" -- a very dangerous path.

True they are all we have at present and I suppose that their use is
inevitable, but, while we do it,  we should keep in the back (at the very
least) of our minds that "light" is surely not either a "wave" or a
"particle", but some other as yet unknown concept.

And when we have these murky discussions, it would behoove us to keep our
language very precise -- for example when we interject the awkward (but
common) concept of having "energy" "flow", we are just begging for grief.

We try to explain murky concepts with other murky concepts and end up just
playing semantic word-games.

Jim Green
mailto:JMGreen@sisna.com
http://users.sisna.com/jmgreen