Light as a Dipole: A Tortoise and Hare Model

Karunakar Kothapalli (), Andrew J. Simoson () and Gideon A. Bezuidenhout ()
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Karunakar Kothapalli: King University, Physics Department
Andrew J. Simoson: King University, Mathematics Department
Gideon A. Bezuidenhout: King University

A chapter in Handbook of Visual, Experimental and Computational Mathematics, 2026, pp 621-655 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract Rather than using the classic models of treating a photon as a particle or a wave, why not model light by combining the two ideas and treat light as a simple dipole, a baton-like structure AB whose packet of light (a photon) has veritable shock absorbers at nodes A and B with its energy ensconced between those nodes, where the distance between the nodes is on the order of the photon’s wavelength. With this model the law of reflection follows. So too does Snell’s law of refraction. To do so, as a dipole enters a more dense medium at, say, endpoint B, imagine that B behaves as a tortoise while A behaves as a hare. Such a model implies Fermat’s principle that light follows paths of least time. Furthermore, a law of diffraction surprisingly follows as well. Reasonableness of the model, comparisons with the classic models, and further questions are explored.

Keywords: Dipole; Refraction; Primitive reflection; Reflection; Diffraction; Photon; Wavelength; Fermat’s principle; Polarized light; Monochromatic light; Polariton; Wavelet; Bessel functions; Maxwell’s equations; Pixel-moment; Fourier transform; Phasor (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-032-16368-4_38

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