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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Re: Is photon model of electromagnetic wave an oversimplification?
« on: 28/02/2017 05:27:56 »Then you can use an oldfashioned instrument!What is the minimum size of "quantum mottle" have you ever seen? IMO, it's not much less than 1 micron since it's visible to the naked eye.
X-ray "intensifying screens" are fluorescent material that converts single incoming high energy photons into multiple visible photons that can be recorded on conventional photographic film. At very low x-ray intensities you can see "quantum mottle" where individual x-ray photons have triggered a local burst of visible photons.
Or you can use a photonuclear reaction to detect photons with energies above about 1 MeV by the products of that reaction. The consistency of yield strongly suggests that the trigger is quantised.
At 1.022 MeV the incoming photon in the vicinity of a nucleus can produce an electron-positron pair which annihilates into exactly two 511 keV photons that you can detect by all sorts of methods. I can't think of another mathematical model that would predict this.
Can you name one method to detect 511 keV photons which doesn't involve electron activity?