Why is unpolarized light a statistical mixture of pure polarizations, as it is said here, rather than a quantum combination?
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related: Why, in spin sums, we sum over final spin states and average over initial states?. – AccidentalFourierTransform Jan 13 '17 at 16:58
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1because photons are bosons not fermions? Which is a bit like saying "because they do", a comment not really an answer. – JMLCarter Jan 13 '17 at 17:42
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I'm in a basic optics course, so I don't know much about bosons and I was looking for a more basic answer. But I guess what you mean is that it is a fact of life. This behaviour is observed experimentally and therefore photons are classified as bosons. Am I right? – MBolin Jan 14 '17 at 12:34