March 30, 2025
Photon self-interactions are absent in pure Maxwell’s theory. Photon-matter interactions should not be confused with direct photon-photon interactions, as photons do not typically collide within their ordinary energy range of 1–2 eV. For two photons to collide and produce an electron-positron pair, their initial energy must exceed 1 MeV (1,000,000 eV), whereas visible light photons only possess an energy range of 1–2 eV.
However, photon self-interactions can be induced through photon-matter interactions. Effective photon-photon interactions emerge in low-energy Quantum Electrodynamics (QED) frameworks. One such interaction is electron-positron pair production, where a high-energy photon—such as a gamma-ray photon—transforms into an electron (negatively charged) and a positron (positively charged, the electron's antiparticle). For this process to occur, the photon must possess sufficient energy, at least twice the rest mass energy of an electron (approximately 1.022 MeV), to generate both an electron and a positron.
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