The Daily Bulletin Archive

Enrique "Kiko" Galvez, Charles A. Dana Professor of Physics and Astronomy and director of the Division of Natural Science and Mathematics at Colgate University, will present "The Photon: A Quantum Enigma" at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, March 14, in Science Building 272. Many phenomena are easily understood via light’s wave nature. A few of the classic effects, such as line spectra of atoms, can be understood with the alternative view: the photon. However, there is more to the photon than its quantized energy, and quantum mechanics has a lot to say about it: being in two places at once, and not having an identity until we actually measure it. Moreover, we can use photons to learn more about what quantum mechanics has to say about anything (or everything, photons included). This use of photons includes undergraduate labs and a new way to look at physical systems in terms of information.

This seminar is partially sponsored by funds from Robert and Dorothy Sweet.