[Physics] Is the de Broglie wavelength of a photon equal to the EM wavelength of the radiation

electromagnetic-radiationphotonsquantum mechanicswavelength

Is the de Broglie (matter) wavelength $\lambda=\frac{h}{p}$ of a photon equal to the electromagnetic wavelength of the radiation?
I guess yes, but how come that photons have both a matter wave and an electromagnetic wave but other particles not and that matter and electromagnetic wavelength miraculously match?

Best Answer

1) Yes. The photon's matter wave is actually its electromagnetic wave.

2) Photon emission is not such a kind of process when you get some particles emitted in some interval of time, and you can assume some emission moment within that interval to every particular particle. No, it is a quantum process. The system's intermediate states are not "some particles are emitted, and some are not emitted yet", but "system has some intemediate probability to be in the initial state, and some probability to be in the final state". Every photon is the subject to that accumulating probability. So the most we can say for every photon is that it is emitted in the same interval of time.

The frequency, polarisaion, direction, spatial distribution and all such characteristics of each photon would be the same as those of the electromagnetic wave. (Some advanced details are omitted.)

3) The same way as you may interpret some particular waveform in different bases, like a function of time or a set of sinewave weights, you can interpret photons in different bases. The non-basic waveform is then understood as a quantum superposition of states that belong to the chosen basis.

4) The question is based on the wrong assumption, see the answer to the question 2.

P.S. You deleted your 4 questions, leaving just one, but I hope my answers would still help you.