What equation accurately describes the movement of a photon? Does this equation also apply to the movement of an electron?
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possible duplicate of What equation describes the wavefunction of a single photon? – Kyle Oman Jul 28 '14 at 22:07
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2@Kyle: Hmm. I'm not so sure about that. Asking about the "movement" of a photon implies that some confusion about what a quantum particle is is going on, and I'd rather the OP clarified their question. - OP: What do you mean when you seek the equation governing the movement. Do you know any equation for another quantum particle that governs its movement? – ACuriousMind Jul 28 '14 at 22:10
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If you want to stick to a n-particle-interpretation, for the electron, your answer is the Dirac Equation. However, it breaks down as soon as you reach sufficiently large energies, a unified description is only possible within quantum field theory.
For the photon, the situation is more difficult as it only appears as excited state of the electromagnetic field. Within the classical notion, the equations of motion are therefore the classical Maxwell Equations. If you want to have a quantum-mechanical description, you have to quantize your electromagnetic field, this leads to Quantum Electrodynamics, where the fundamental equation is given by the corresponding Lagrangian. However, this is for sure not an n-particle theory.
Daniel
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