Are particle photons or electromagnetic radiation?

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Even the learned laity today knows that the light bearers are photons. The term "photon" means an intangible particle uniquely described by its wave vector, which encodes both the propagation direction of the photon and its energy.

However, experiments carried out in the past show that the photon can not be simply represented as a ball and electromagnetic radiation as a stream of such beads. It is obvious that the light simultaneously exhibits the characteristics of the waves (which on the other principle builds the observational astronomy), which behave like waves of sound. Other experiments then highlighted the wave properties of "classical" particles: for example, it was possible to record electron interference on a double-spindle.

This so-called wave-particle dualism has been using physics since the early 20th century. Clear for experts - and confusion for non-laymen - brought the problem into quantum mechanics and then quantum field theory. This theoretical framework works with an abstract field whose ripple (the accumulation of energy, or a significant energy swing against the background) is interpreted as the occurrence of a particle. Each particle has its "quantum field". From the quantum theory of the field, the particle and wave properties of the microcosm naturally occur as physical limits.

Photo, illustration:
Wikipedia
Source:
The Mystery of the Universe 10/2016