Photon in the Earth-ionosphere cavity: Schumann resonances

TL;DR

This paper explores a quantum analogy of Schumann resonances using spin-1 particle equations, predicts an upper photon mass limit, and shows consistency with classical electromagnetic theory.

Contribution

It introduces a quantum model of Schumann resonances with spin-1 particles and derives a new upper limit for the photon mass.

Findings

Massless and massive cases align with Maxwell's theory.

Predicted photon mass upper limit of 1.3×10^{-50} kg.

Bound is consistent with existing experimental limits.

Abstract

We study a quantum analogy of Schumann resonances by solving massless and massive spin-1 particle equations derived from the Zitterbewegung model in an annular cavity background with poorly conducting walls. We also show that the massless case and the massive case in the $m_0^2 \rightarrow 0$ limit are compatible with Maxwell's electromagnetic theory. Furthermore, from the massive case, we predict an upper limit for the mass of the photon of 1.3x$10^{-50}$kg. The bound on the mass of the photon is compatible with the current limit in the literature.