Invariant Mass and Propagation Speed of Light Pulses in Vacuum

25th Annual International Laser Physics Workshop

Fedorov, M.V.^1 ; Vintskevich, S.V.^2

A.M. Prokhorov General Physics Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia^1

Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Dolgoprudny, Moscow Region, Russia^2

关键词: Diffraction of lights;    Finite size;    Invariant mass;    Light pulse;    Lorentz-invariant mass;    Non-collinearity;    Nonzero values;    Propagation speed;   

Others  :  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/826/1/012025/pdf
DOI  :  10.1088/1742-6596/826/1/012025

来源: IOP

【 摘 要 】

The concept of the Lorentz-invariant mass of groups of photons is shown to be applicable to classical light pulses with finite sizes and duration. Diffraction of light, providing non-collinearity of the photon motion in pulses, provides also nonzero values of their Lorentz-invariant masses. By considering light pulses as relativistic objects we find that owing to diffraction and finiteness of the Lorentz-invariant mass the mean propagation speed of pulses is always smaller than the light speed c.