Photon model of light: Revision of applicability limits

TL;DR

This paper revises the photon model of light, revealing its limitations in describing classical electromagnetic fields, which impacts the hierarchy of optics theories and suggests quantum optics and electrodynamics are more limited than previously thought.

Contribution

It provides a critical revision of the photon model, clarifying its applicability limits and challenging the conventional hierarchy of optics theories.

Findings

Photon model fails in current-containing domains

Photon model fails in near fields of current-free regions

Quantum optics is a limited version of geometrical optics

Abstract

The photon model of light has been known for decades to be self-inconsistent and controversial theory with numerous intrinsic conflicts. This paper revises the model and explores its applicability for description of classical electromagnetic fields. The revision discloses that the photon model fails for fields in current-containing domains, as well as for near fields in current-free regions. This drastically changes the hierarchy of optics theories and the entire landscape of physics. In particular, quantum optics appears to be not the most advanced theory, as it is commonly thought, but just an improved version of geometrical optics with limited applicability, while quantum electrodynamics turns out to provide a truncated description of electromagnetic interactions.