[Physics] Does a single white photon exist

photonsquantum mechanicsvision

Does a photon having superimposed frequencies exist?

(wrt frequency detected by prism or other detectors, not wrt human eye as only rod-cells can detect one photon falling in the detectable (visible) frequency band and the single photon is perceived by eye+brain as grey irrespective of frequency).

Also, with white here, I do not wish to restrict the question implying all VIBGYOR frequencies or only RGB as each color is also a range of frequencies and white to trichromatic-sensor human eye is just output from three frequencies RGB.

Or can it be that materials which slow light down cause a photon of some single frequency and higher energy to split into VIBGYOR? || and the entire spectrum of human eye's detection range is VIBGYOR+W (as monochromatic light of high intensity can also be perceived white by human eye and it is not related to individual color sensors of human eye at all but that above a certain energy per unit volume (referring to detector area of eye cells), we perceive it white, (somewhat but not exactly) similar to combination of red and green which human eye+brain calls yellow.

I have added the additional description to make the question more precise. If my description causes confusion, please stay with the original question and use description just to get an idea of the intent of the question.

Best Answer

There are a lot of contradictory answers here. The basic facts are

  • Yes, a photon by itself can be in a quantum superposition of different frequencies, which one might call "white".
  • No, such a photon probably can't be produced by a simple natural process.
  • No, such a photon would not look white, because the superposition collapses upon measurement, giving only one frequency. (Only one of your cone cells could possibly fire in response, assuming that any even fire at all.) However, a collection of many such photons would collectively look white.
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