From the pov of a photon travelling at the speed of light, no time elapses from the moment it emits from the sun and absorbs in my eyeball. This is true also of all photons going all directions off the sun. This implies there is no distance either, for the photon, in any direction. So does this imply that from the point of view of a photon, is it’s universe a single dimensionless point? That is, for a photon, is it existing in a pre-big bang universe? And further, since there is at least one photon, surely there isn’t space for more than one …. And since it’s the same universe we occupy with that one photon (viewed through differing points of view), is all light that one photon, possibly superimposed countless times?
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There is no pov of a photon in special relativity. Speed of light is the same in all reference frames. You can’t construct a reference frame that moves along a photon as that implies speed of light is zero in that frame. If you put v=c in the time dilation formula you get division by zero, domain error.
A photon is an eternal object that does not experience time.
According to our current understanding of physics, “from the point of view of a photon” is a meaningless phrase. The equations that we use to shift between reference frames break down for the speed of light.
We have absolutely no idea what happens in the point of view of a photon. It’s all speculation.
Photons take all possible paths. Photons are just the clicks your detector makes. Do they even exist in between the source and detector?
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> no time elapses from the moment it emits from the sun and absorbs in my eyeball.
How do we know that?
No. A photon emitted from the sun is not absorbed in your eyeball at the same time. Yes, there is distance and time is elapsed for photons to travel across it.
We don’t know what the universe would look like from the point of view of a photon because if you plug that speed into the equations of special relativity, you get some undefined terms. That space in the direction of motion flattens to a plane is one way to interpret the equations, but it’s not clear whether that’s really the POV of a photon.
Note that the contraction is not to a point, but it’s only in one dimension, so it’s not like the big bang universe. Moreover, there is space for more than one photon in the same space (they’re the kind of particles that are perfectly happy occupying the same space). So no, that all photons are the same photon doesn’t necessarily follow.
To the photon it is both the begining and end of the universe. It probably wouldn’t be able to distinguish itself from the universe.
Like if you paused a photon right now it would think the big bang just happened.
search youtube for flatland. theres 2 films based off of a book. i think that is exactly what you are looking for. its mostly about how 2 dimensional beings would perceive the world but they do visit a one dimensional character
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