Almut Beige (School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds) – Enhancing wave-particle duality

Despite wave-particle duality being the cornerstone of quantum physics, we do not use the same formalism to describe photons and quantum mechanical particles [1]. To elevate wave-particle duality, we recently introduced a local photon model [2] which allows us to do quantum mechanics with photons. To illustrate the usefulness of our approach, we first have a closer look at the modelling of a single-photon emitter [3]. In addition, we consider an example, where quantum physics is used to answer a longstanding controversy in classical physics. More concretely, we show that our approach allows us to define the momentum of light in a unique way, namely as the generator for spatial translation. When analysing the momentum dynamics of photonic wave packets which transition from air into a dielectric medium, we obtain an answer to the Abraham-Minkowski controversy. Although our results align with Minkowski’s theory, there are also some crucial differences [4].

[1] A. Bukhari, D. Hodgson, S. Kanzi, R. Purdy, and A. Beige, Enhancing wave-particle duality, New J. Phys. 27, 084501 (2025).
[2] D. Hodgson, J. Southall, R. Purdy, and A. Beige, Local photons, Front. Photon. 3, 978855 (2022).
[3] T. Hartwell, D. Hodgson, H. Alshemmari, G. Jose, and A. Beige, Photon emission without quantum jumps, New J. Phys. 28, 014510 (2026).
[4] G. Waite, D. Hodgson, B. Lang, V. Alapatt, and A. Beige, Local photon model of the momentum of light, Phys. Rev. A. 111, 023703 (2025).