Classical electromagnetic field, quantum

In the previous section we presented the semi-classical electron-electron interaction we treated the electrons quantum mechanically but assumed that they interact via classical electromagnetic fields. The Breit retardation is only an approximate treatment of retardation and we shall now consider a more consistent treatment of the electron-electron interaction operator that also provides a bridge to relativistic DFT, which is current-density functional theory. For the correct description we have to take the quantization of electromagnetic fields into account (however, we will discuss only old, i.e., pre-1940 quantum electrodynamics). This means the two moving electrons interact via exchanged virtual photons with a specific angular frequency u>... 

It is very well known that Einstein, developing Planck s ideas, quantized the electromagnetic field by introducing a quantum particle named the photon. Consequently, each mode or state of a classical electromagnetic field is characterized by an angular frequency, co, and a wave vector,... 

On the level of quantum mechanics we are faced with the problem of solving numerically the Dirac equation governing the time-evolution of an electron state V (f)) under the influence of a space-time-dependent (classical) electromagnetic field AgXt(r, t) including the binding nuclear potential AnUC(r) ... 

To achieve both laser cooling and entan ement, we need to provide a coupling between intonal and motional quantum states. This can be achieved with the application of inhomogeneous (classical) electromagnetic fields. For example, consider an atom confined in a 1-D harmonic potential. The atom s dipole moment is assumed to couple to an electric field (x,t) through the Hamiltonian... 

After we have presented the semi-classical derivation of the Breit interaction, in which the electrons are described quantum mechanically while their interaction is considered via classical electromagnetic fields, we should discuss how this interaction can eventually be derived from quantum electrodynamics [212]. Consequently, we revisit the basics already introduced in section 7.2.2. 

Quantization of the Electromagnetic Field.—Instead of proceeding as in the previous discussion of spin 0 and spin particles, we shall here adopt essentially the opposite point of view. Namely, instead of formulating the quantum theory of a system of many photons in terms of operators and showing the equivalence of this formalism to the imposition of quantum rules on classical electrodynamics, we shall take as our point of departure certain commutation rules which we assume the field operators to satisfy. We shall then show that a... 

Before embarking on the problem of the interaction of the negaton-positon field with the quantized electromagnetic field, we shall first consider the case of the negaton-positon field interacting with an external, classical (prescribed) electromagnetic field. We shall also outline in the present chapter those aspects of the theory of the S-matrix that will be required for the treatment of quantum electrodynamics. Section 10.4 presents a treatment of the Dirac equation in an external field. 

Abstract The statistical properties of the electromagnetic field find their origin in its quantum nature. While most experiments can be interpreted relying on classical electrodynamics, in the past thirty years, many experiments need a quantum description of the electromagnetic field. This gives rises to distinct statistical properties. 

We present here a condensed explanation and summary of the effects. A complete discussion can be found in a paper by Hellen and Axelrod(33) which directly calculates the amount of emission light gathered by a finite-aperture objective from a surface-proximal fluorophore under steady illumination. The effects referred to here are not quantum-chemical, that is, effects upon the orbitals or states of the fluorophore in the presence of any static fields associated with the surface. Rather, the effects are "classical-optical," that is, effects upon the electromagnetic field generated by a classical oscillating dipole in the presence of an interface between any media with dissimilar refractive indices. Of course, both types of effects may be present simultaneously in a given system. However, the quantum-chemical effects vary with the detailed chemistry of each system, whereas the classical-optical effects are more universal. Occasionally, a change in the emission properties of a fluorophore at a surface may be attributed to the former when in fact the latter are responsible. 

So now we have the question poased in an interesting form. There are two quite different kinds of antennas, both of which produce electric dipole fields, but different Lorenz potentials, one emphasizing the vector potential and the other, the scalar potential. In a classical electromagnetic sense, one cannot distinguish these two cases by measurements of the fields (the measurable quantities) at distances away from the source region. The gauge invariance of QED implies the same in quantum sense. 

We now consider the effect of exposing a system to electromagnetic radiation. Our treatment will involve approximations beyond that of replacing (3.13) with (3.16). A proper treatment of the interaction of radiation with matter must treat both the atom and the radiation field quantum-mechanically this gives what is called quantum field theory (or quantum electrodynamics). However, the quantum theory of radiation is beyond the scope of this book. We will treat the atom quantum-mechanically, but will treat the radiation field as a classical wave, ignoring its photon aspect. Thus our treatment is semiclassical. 

B. A. Hess The reason that macroscopic motions display coherence is that they are in most cases at the classical limit of quantum dynamics. In this case, a suitable occupation of quantum states ensures that quantum mechanical expectation values equal the classical value of an observable. In particular, the classical state of an electromagnetic field (the coherent state) is one in which the expectation value of the operator of the electromagnetic field equals the classical field strengths. 

The modern point of view is that, for every particle that exists, there is a corresponding field with wave properties. In the development of this viewpoint, the particle aspects of electrons and nuclei were evident at the beginning and the field or wave aspects were found later (this was the development of quantum mechanics). In contrast, the wave aspects of the photon were understood first (this was the classical electromagnetic theory of Maxwell) and its particle aspects only discovered later, From this modern viewpoint, the photon is the particle corresponding to the electromagnetic field. It is a particle with zero rest mass and spin one. 

Textbooks frequently cite this work as strong empirical evidence for the existence of photons as quanta of electromagnetic energy localized in space and time. However, it has been shown that [8] a complete account of the photoelectric effect can be obtained by treating the electromagnetic field as a classical Maxwellian field and the detector is treated according to the laws of quantum mechanics. 

What has been presented here is a semiclassical theory of TJ 1) quantum electrodynamics. Here the electromagnetic field is treated in a purely classical manner, but where the electromagnetic potential has been normalized to include one photon per some unit volume. Here the absorption and emission of a photon is treated in a purely perturbative manner. Further, the field normalization is done so that each unit volume contains the equivalent of n photons and that the energy is computed accordingly. However, this is not a complete theory, for it is known that the transition probability is proportional to n + 1. So the semiclassical theory is only appropriate when the number of photons is comparatively large. 

Just by considering equation (4) one may speculate that the NACTs might be similar to the electromagnetic vector potential, S. It is known from classical mechanics that the momentum p of a charged particle in an electromagnetic field changes to p — p + eS - a substitution termed as the minimal principle [1]. Due to the correspondence principle the quantum mechanical minimal principle becomes V—>- V+ i(e/fi)S. However, the NACTs in equation (4), when considering each element separately, do not combine with V (because the... 

The next and necessary step is to account for the interactions between the quantum subsystem and the classical subsystem. This is achieved by the utilization of a classical expression of the interactions between charges and/or induced charges and a van der Waals term [45-61] and we are able to represent the coupling to the quantum mechanical Hamiltonian by interaction operators. These interaction operators enable us to include effectively these operators in the quantum mechanical equations for calculating the MCSCF electronic wavefunction along with the response of the MCSCF wavefunction to externally applied time-dependent electromagnetic fields when the molecule is exposed to a structured environment [14,45-56,58-60,62,67,69-74],... 

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