If visible photons don't interact with the valence electrons in glass due to large band gap, then how do you explain the slower speed of light in glass the way classical em wave explanation does? Does the interaction (non-orbit shifting) take finite time to complete and thus slowing down the photons? Or is it just phase speed that's retarded, not the individual photons? We can test these two theories with for example a laser pulse through glass rod.
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Photons , as all zero mass particles, travel with velocity c, even within matter. Classical EM waves are built out of zero mass photons, but photons are not classical EM waves. see this question here https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/90646/what-is-the-relation-between-electromagnetic-wave-and-photon – anna v Nov 04 '23 at 21:06
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@annav You link to a voluminous Q&A. Pleas give us a hint on what part, whether photons be classical EM waves or not, explains the different propagation speed in glass versus vacuum? – Gyro Gearloose Nov 04 '23 at 21:20
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@GyroGearloose I gave the link for my statement that photons are not electromagnetic light, not to answer the question. "whether photons be classical EM waves or not" is a statement that makes the question out of the mainstream physics and this site answers main stream physics questions. – anna v Nov 05 '23 at 04:50