The elementary static magnetic field of the photon

Abstract

It is argued that the photon generates on a fundamental level a static magnetic field, a flux density operator B̂Π = B0Ĵ/h̷ where Ĵ is the photon's angular momentum operator and B0 the scalar magnetic flux density amplitude of a beam of N photons. A key experimental test of the theory is proposed, whereby a circularly polarised laser beam is reflected at right angles from a beam of electrons, and the frequency shift Δf (hertz) = (m̂£B̂Π)/h measured in the reflected laser beam as a function of incident laser intensity I0. Here m̂ is the magnetic dipole moment operator of the electron.