{"id":15202281,"date":"2026-07-09T10:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T14:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/trying-to-break-a-photon-would-create-a-quantum-mess\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T11:34:49","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T15:34:49","slug":"trying-to-break-a-photon-would-create-a-quantum-mess","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/trying-to-break-a-photon-would-create-a-quantum-mess\/","title":{"rendered":"Trying to break a photon would create a quantum mess"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When it comes to making a mess, not even the world\u2019s crumbliest cookie would compare to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/article\/scientists-say-photon\">photon<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Photons are fundamental particles of light. As fundamental particles, they cannot really be broken down into smaller bits. But physicists have now shown what would happen \u2014 in theory \u2014 if you tried to crack a photon in half.<\/p>\n<p>You wouldn&#8217;t just end up with a second photon, their calculations show. Rather, up to an infinite number of new light particles would sprinkle out of thin air.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"wp-block-sciencenews-inline-related-post alignleft\">\n<h4><a href=\"https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/article\/lets-learn-about-quantum-realm-physics\">Let\u2019s learn about the quantum realm<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/aside>\n<p>The researchers shared their findings in a paper that will be published in <em>Physical Review Letters<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Daniele Faccio\u2019s first reaction to the study was: nonsense. \u201cThen you read it, and I enjoyed it,\u201d he says. Faccio is a physicist at the University of Glasgow in Scotland who did not take part in the work. \u201cThe technique is legit,\u201d he says. &#8220;The results look absolutely reasonable.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Photon interrupted<\/h2>\n<p>The key to the analysis is that photons don&#8217;t just act as pointlike particles. They also behave like extended waves. That got Johannes Skaar wondering: What would happen if you had a device fast enough to snip the wave of a single photon in half?<\/p>\n<p>Skaar is a physicist at the University of Oslo in Norway. His team <a href=\"https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/article\/scientists-say-model-definition-pronunciation\">modeled<\/a> a scenario where a photon is traveling toward a mirror. The front half of the light wave hits the mirror first. It gets bounced back in the direction it came from. But then, the mirror is suddenly removed. The back half of the light wave is then free to pass through.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"wp-block-sciencenews-inline-related-post alignleft\">\n<h4><a href=\"https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/article\/quantum-world-mind-bogglingly-weird\">The quantum world is mind-bogglingly weird<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/aside>\n<p>This, the math shows, would spew out a complex mix \u2014 or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/article\/scientists-say-thought-experiment-definition-pronunciation\">superposition<\/a> \u2014 of different possible numbers of photons.<\/p>\n<p>Removing the mirror infinitely fast would conjure an infinity of new light particles. Infinite speed is, of course, impossible. But even pulling the mirror away more slowly has striking effects. \u201cYou end up with a possibility of several photons, or a bunch of photons,\u201d Skaar says. You\u2019re just much more likely to create small numbers of them than huge swarms.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a bit strange,\u201d allows Skaar. But in the quantum realm, he adds, it\u2019s not actually that weird.<\/p>\n<p>Quantum physics is the science that describes how the very smallest things, such as photons, behave. And it has already shown that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/article\/how-quantum-mechanics-lets-heat-cross-a-vacuum\">supposedly &#8220;empty&#8221; space is not truly empty<\/a>. There is some structure to the fabric of &#8220;empty&#8221; space, and disturbing it is known to knock new photons loose.<\/p>\n<p>In this case, the mirror&#8217;s motion could provide the energy to spawn new light particles.<\/p>\n<p>.cheat-sheet-cta {<br \/>\n  border: 1px solid #ffffff;<br \/>\n  margin-top: 20px;<br \/>\n  background-image: url(&#8220;https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/12\/cta-module@2x-2048&#215;239-1.png&#8221;);<br \/>\n  padding: 10px;<br \/>\n  clear: both;<br \/>\n}<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-group cheat-sheet-cta is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Do you have a science question? We can help!<\/h2>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/forms.gle\/YbhPosFTMqjbSNnV7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Submit your question here<\/a>, and we might answer it an upcoming issue of&nbsp;<em>Science News Explores<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Weirder and weirder<\/h2>\n<p>To Skaar, a possible cascade of new light particles isn\u2019t the oddest outcome of the model. To him, the weirdest part is the math that describes what you&#8217;d see if you observed the system from different perspectives.<\/p>\n<p>If you could view both sides of the mirror at once, you&#8217;d witness the messy eruption of up to bajillions of photons. But if you could only see one side of the mirror, you&#8217;d observe just one \u2014 or empty space.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"wp-block-sciencenews-inline-related-post alignleft\">\n<h4><a href=\"https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/article\/explainer-what-are-gravitational-waves\">Explainer: What are gravitational waves?<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cThat is really crazy,\u201d says Skaar. He hopes to probe what\u2019s going on more deeply in future work. He also wants to explore what would happen if you tried to sever other types of fundamental particles. In quantum physics, particles such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/article\/scientists-say-electron\">electrons<\/a> also act like waves. Attempting to snip them in half might lead to similarly bizarre results.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not super clear what uses this research might have. \u201cI\u2019m going to speculate wildly here,\u201d Faccio says. But \u201cit might matter because there are funky things that people do with [photons] for sensing and measuring.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/article\/how-catch-gravity-wave\">Gravitational-wave catchers<\/a>, for example, play with light waves to detect ripples in the fabric of our universe.<\/p>\n<p>Probing the nature of photons, Faccio says, may be helpful in fields that use such quantum sensors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"inmi-source\">Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.snexplores.org\/article\/break-light-photon-quantum-mess\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Science \u2013 sciencenewsforstudents<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Attempting to cut a light particle in half would spawn up to infinite new photons, a new model shows.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15202283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[218],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15202281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15202281-060926_mt_photons_main.webp",800,450,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15202281-060926_mt_photons_main-300x169.webp",300,169,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15202281-060926_mt_photons_main-620x349.webp",620,349,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15202281-060926_mt_photons_main-768x432.webp",768,432,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15202281-060926_mt_photons_main.webp",800,450,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15202281-060926_mt_photons_main.webp",800,450,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15202281-060926_mt_photons_main.webp",800,450,false],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15202281-060926_mt_photons_main.webp",800,450,false],"ignition_item":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15202281-060926_mt_photons_main-670x446.webp",670,446,true],"ignition_item_lg":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15202281-060926_mt_photons_main.webp",800,450,false],"ignition_article_media":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15202281-060926_mt_photons_main-510x450.webp",510,450,true],"ignition_minicart_item":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15202281-060926_mt_photons_main-160x160.webp",160,160,true],"profile_24":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15202281-060926_mt_photons_main-24x24.webp",24,24,true],"profile_48":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15202281-060926_mt_photons_main-48x48.webp",48,48,true],"profile_96":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15202281-060926_mt_photons_main-96x96.webp",96,96,true],"profile_150":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15202281-060926_mt_photons_main-150x150.webp",150,150,true],"profile_300":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15202281-060926_mt_photons_main-300x300.webp",300,300,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"news.iNthacity","author_link":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/author\/atombo\/"},"category_info":"<a 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