Hints of the Photonic Nature of the Electromagnetic Fields in Classical Electrodynamics

Abstract

Several recent publications show that the electromagnetic radiation generated by transmitting antennas satisfy the following universal conditions: The time domain radiation fields satisfy the condition A ≥ h /4π ? q ≥ e where A is the action of the radiation field, which is defined as the product of the radiated energy and the duration of the radiation, h is the Planck constant, e is the electronic charge and q is the charge associated with the radiating system. The frequency domain radiation fields satisfy the condition U ≥ hv ? q ≥ e where U is the energy radiated in a single burst of radiation of duration T /2 and v is the frequency of oscillation. The goal of this paper is to show that these conditions, which indeed are expressions of the photonic nature of the electromagnetic fields, are satisfied not only by the radiation fields generated by physical antennas but also by the radiation fields generated by accelerating or decelerating electric charges. The results presented here together with the results obtained in previous studies show that hints of the photonic nature of the electromagnetic radiation remain hidden in the field equations of classical electrodynamics, and they become apparent when the dimension of the radiating system is pushed to the extreme limits as allowed by nature.