On the deeper physics
February 9th, 2006 | No Comments »I am always tempted to delve into, and bring into the discussion, the murky (but well understood) deeper physics of the light interaction with matter that is the subject of this work. The terminology of quantum electrodynamics would have to be introduced (such as “an emitter has at each instant along its worldline a particular complex amplitude for emitting a photon”) but it is easy to see that this would take any discussion away from what has been my original intent….to articulate the idea in a way that I thought would be understandable to the largest segment of the vision science community.
I might cite as an example of where the level of obfuscation might lead a statement from a paper I am reading (“Paths Not Taken” from www.mathpages.com) and contrast it with the concept widely published in the vision science field of the notion of a “quantum catch” of photons attempting to explain the extraordinary length of retinal receptors, to wit: “To speak about the trajectory of a free photon is to speak about something that cannot, even in principle, ever be observed”.
I cannot, however, resist the temptation to introduce a similar thought from the viewpoint of contemporary solid state science to the effect that: “the retina consists of one dimensional “quantum dots” ( the rhodopsin molecular complexes ) assembled into two dimensional “quantum wires” (the outer receptor segments) and ultimately into an overall three dimensional nanostructure to perform a logical diffractive array/wavelength detection and imaging function”. I believe that this is an accurate description of the organization and functioning of the retina..but does it lead to any greater understanding (the fabrication and properties of quantum dots and wires are the subject of intense study in contemporary solid state physics!)
I think one for the time being should just stop at the purely phenomenological observation that forms the basis of the work, namely that “from simple geometrical considerations it appears (is obvious that!) the retinal structure evolved to detect light as the wave of classical physics adjacent to an absorbing mass that must be reduced to spatial quantum confinement dimensions.” As obscure as the latter point may seem it is the only way to express this requirement at our current level of understanding.
GCH
