Does light itself truly have an infinite lifetime?

  • Leader
    April 22, 2024 4:31 PM PDT

    In all the Universe, only a few particles are eternally stable. The photon, the quantum of light, has an infinite lifetime. Or does it? 

    https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/light-infinite-lifetime/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us

    • In the expanding Universe, for billions upon billions of years, the photon seems to be one of the very few particles that has an apparently infinite lifetime.
    • Photons are the quanta that compose light, and in the absence of any other interactions that force them to change their properties, are eternally stable, with no hint that they would transmute into any other particle.
    • But how well do we know this to be true, and what evidence can we point to in order to determine their stability? It's a fascinating question that pushes us right to the limits of what we can scientifically observe and measure.

    When I think of photon's I think of photon torpedo's from Star Trek.  This article is

    This article argues that photon's light may live forever when everything else in our universe dies out.  Not a very comforting thought, but I believe we still have a few million's of years of life on earth.

    “Do photons live forever? Or do they ‘die,’ and convert to some other particle? The light we see erupting from cosmic events over a verrrrry long past … we seem to know where it comes from, but where does it go? What is the life cycle of a photon?

    If diving deep into science is your thang, you will enjoy this article.