Prompted by working on lecture notes for Quantum Optics last night, a Dorky Poll about the mathematical formalism of photon number states
I know it's hard to pick, but choose only one.
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I like the one governing the photon to axion transition. The laser beam goes through a powerful magnetic field, some photons turn into axions, go right through the wall, and on the other side, another magnetic field turns them back to photons, for measurement. Well, my sources tell me that the Pentagon may be finding this as a Black Project.
I also like the Photino birds in Stephen Baxter's Xeelee Sequence of future history, a species of dark matter entities that inhabit the gravity wells of stars. Because this habitat is dangerous, the photino birds engage themselves in an effort to age stars to the point where they are not prone to supernovae. This effort would make the universe uninhabitable by baryonic life forms; it therefore catches the attention of the Xeelee, whose ultimate purpose is to combat the photino birds. Photino birds are discovered to inhabit Earth's own sun.
The only thing esoteric here is the subject of this poll, WTF is a photon operator?
I choose a point-and-hoot operator, thank you very much.
For coherent states alone, the annihilation operators clearly emerge victorious.
Annihilation operator. "Let there be dark!"
i was thinking the exact thing as Bob Hawkins!
It's always bothered me that the dagger was not association with annihilation.
Too dorky for me, I'm afraid :( What tobias said.
The annihilation operator is cooler, but I felt obligated to vote for my handle anyway. I second the notion that annihilation should be the daggered operator.
Why no number operator?
Obviously  â  - I annihilate photons for a living!
I'm a photon creationist.
Is that a dagger I see before me - sorry.
I know some of the guys doing the photon-axion DM experiment. I can't say more, but some government money does go into their surrounding institution ... BTW it's a tough one and very hard to screen out false positives. They don't have a budget to buy stuff like tons of gallium, millions of kg of water etc. or whatever,