Validation of classical modeling of single-photon pulse propagation

TL;DR

This paper reviews and extends classical models of single-photon pulse propagation, demonstrating their consistency with quantum optics results and exploring implications for multiphoton states and quantum electrodynamics.

Contribution

It provides a theoretical basis for classical modeling of single-photon propagation and extends this framework to multiphoton states and QED Fock space.

Findings

Classical models align with quantum interference experiments

Extension to multiphoton states is achieved

Role of CPT theorem in photon-matter interactions is clarified

Abstract

"It is well-known to those who know it" that single-photon interference experiments can be modeled classically [S. Barnett, arXiv:2207.14632 (2022)]. When a single-photon light pulse was split by a biprism good agreement with a classical fit was obtained and the photon was counted only once, consistent with a probabilistic interpr.etation [V. Jacques et al, Eur. Phys. J. D 35, 561 (2002)]. A justification for this "well know result of Quantum Optics" is implicit in [M. Hawton, Phys. Rev A 104, 052211 (2021)] where a real covariant field describing a single photon is first quantized. Here the theoretical basis of this result is reviewed and the theory is extended to multiphoton states and QED Fock space. The crucial role of the CPT theorem in coupling to charged matter and resolution of the photon localization problem is discussed.