(January 30, 2022 at 8:14 pm)polymath257 Wrote: This is not correct. A magnetic field that varies can affect the polarization of light going through it. it doesn't change the direction, but it does change the characteristics of the light.
Well, there is the magneto-optical effect but I think this is done by sending photons through a material and you apply a magnetic field that is parallel to the light beam. This changes the polarization and light speed.
What if you don’t use a material all? Send the beam of light through a vacuum?
Quote:This is not correct. The electrons *will* interact with the photons. One way is via Compton scattering. Another is simply from the changing electric field of the light beam.
Is is my understanding that Compton scattering is usually observed with an X-ray beam and some material.
I don’t know if a beam of electron and a beam of photons has ever been used.
Quote:close, but not quite right. The photons have to be tuned to the *difference* in energy between two available orbitals. This does NOT require the sample to be a gas. it is also possible for the photon to interact with the electron and ionize the atom.
Yes.
Quote:This is correct to a very high degree of accuracy, but not absolutely so. A photon can produce a positron/electron pair, which interacts with another photon before the pair collapses back into a photon. The effect is small, but it exists.
Where did you read about that?
Quote:The magnetic moment gives the strength of the dipole part of the magnetic field.
What is a dipole part?
Quote:Yes. More precisely, the magnetic field cannot be uniform. It needs to vary with position to produce a force on the neutron.
Why? What is the shape of the magnetic field around a moving neutron?
