[Physics] What happens to a photon when it loses all its energy

energyfrequencyphotons

My understanding of Compton Scattering is that when a photon collides with a free electron, it will lose energy to the electron, and this loss of energy translates to an increase in the wavelength/reduction in frequency/red shift.

If my understanding is correct, then what happens to a photon when it loses all its energy? Does the wavelength become infinite and its frequency reduces to zero? Does it become dark and undetectable?

Best Answer

A photon cannot lose all of its energy by Compton scattering, as that would violate conservation of four-momentum. Imagine a photon with four-momentum $(p,\vec p)$ gives all of its energy (and thus all its momentum) to an electron with four-momentum $(m,0)$, in $c=1$ units. Then by conservation of four-momentum, the new four-momentum of the electron would be $(m+p,\vec p)$. But computing the mass corresponding to that four-momentum gives $m=\sqrt{m^2+2mp} > m$. Since the mass of an electron is fixed, this is a contradiction and so cannot occur.

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