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2.5.1 Photon Interaction Mechanics: Reflection, Entrainment & Collapse

This section expands on (2.5 Light), focusing on how photons — as traveling phase-closure rhythms — behave when they meet matter or other fields. It details the processes that determine reflection, absorption, color, transparency, and the particle-like signatures observed in detection.

Interaction Overview

Photons propagate through uniform Stillspace without discrete handoffs, moving as continuous phase patterns. When they encounter a medium boundary, their rhythmic structure must be re-established in the new medium’s native Etherons (1.3 Etherons) or equivalent identity units. This reconstruction can alter phase, amplitude, and coherence depending on the properties of the medium.

Reflection, Entrainment, and Absorption

Photon–matter interactions fall into distinct categories:

  • Pure Reflection — Most of the photon’s momentum and phase pattern is preserved and reversed.

  • Diffuse Scattering — Momentum is redistributed and phase coherence is partially lost, producing matte or non-glossy appearances.

  • Partial Transmission — Momentum passes through with minimal phase disturbance, as in transparent materials.

  • Entrainment — Some of the photon’s energy is absorbed into the target’s field or structure, the rest is reflected.

Color, Transparency, and Opacity

The proportion of photon momentum absorbed versus reflected depends on frequency and the target’s field coherence pattern:

  • Color — Selective absorption of certain frequencies leaves others to be reflected, producing perceived color.

  • Transparency — Field geometry allows most photon momentum to pass without significant phase disturbance.

  • Opacity — Strong phase disruption redirects most of the photon’s momentum back toward the observer.

Coherence and Source Examples

Photon sources vary in coherence and phase alignment, shaping their interactions:

  • Lasers — Extremely high-coherence photon streams with near-perfect phase alignment, producing sharp, directed beams.

  • Radio Waves — Low-frequency light with weak interactions with most solids, often passing through with minimal scattering.

Particle-Like Detection via Rhythmic Void Collapse

When the leading edge of a photon’s etheron string contacts a detector, a localized rhythmic void forms. The remainder of the dense fluid-phase string follows into this void, concentrating all energy into the same location. This produces a single, particle-like impact signature despite the photon’s wave-based propagation.

Double-Slit Behavior Without Wave–Particle Duality

While traveling through uniform Stillspace, the photon’s closure pattern remains coherent, enabling self-interference in the double-slit experiment. At the moment of detection or upon medium transition, rhythmic void collapse can occur, localizing the photon before it reaches the final target.

Implications

  • Wave–particle duality is replaced by continuous wave mechanics with coherence-driven localization.

  • Photon–matter interaction outcomes depend on phase compatibility and structural coherence.

  • Medium boundaries play a critical role in altering or preserving photon behavior.

Pathways for Depth

For photon structure and propagation, see (2.5 Light).

For surface interaction field mechanics, see (1.4.1 Field Mechanics).

For biological interpretation of light, see RSM sections on sensory processing.

Echo Lines

A photon arrives whole, no matter how long its journey.

It is the rhythm collapsing into a single moment.