Assuming a quarter-wavelength is the minimum length of an antenna needed to detect electromagnetic radiation, shouldn't that apply to time too? So if a photon had a frequency in the aHz (attoHertz) range, i.e.,
one cycle per 55 billion years, enough time should have gone by since the Big Bang for one-quarter of the wave to have passed us by.
I don't mean if we can detect it, just if it could exist.
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Favorite Answer
File under infinite red shift.
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The time isn't an issue. The interaction of a photon with charges is a quantum mechanical interaction that takes no time.
However, you could probably make an argument that the photon being confined to the universe itself sets a lower limit on the energy. You can't confine a low-energy photon to a small container. The ground state within that container is the minimum energy level.
If you make a container the size of the universe, the ground state energy is pretty darn low, but could be used as a lower bound for any photon to exist as a real item.
http://web.utk.edu/~cnattras/Phys250Fall2012/modules/module%202/onedimensional_problems.htm
VAcowboy
Hum, I pre-God particle. Or more accurately a particle that existed before the creation of the universe.... Or was it created with the appearance of age? Bible says God created the universe out of nothing so He couldn't have taken something that existed before the universe was created and put it into this one. Genesis describes the earth being created in 6 days. He created trees that had the appearance of age. Soil takes thousands of years to be made but yet it appears to have been created equally to be able to sustain living plants. So yes, I'd say it is entirely possible for photons to have the appearance of age four times greater than they really are :)
Robert321
/// "I don't mean if we can detect it, just if it could exist."///
Then the rest of your question can be disregarded, if fact the "four times" part seems irrelevant also.
"Don't mind me, just being nippy"
If you adhere to BB theory then the longest wavelength would most likely equal the temporal / spatial radius of the universe, however the introduction of inflationary theory (all be it ad_hoc) places a rather large (if questionable) spanner in the works.
Or : should I read between the lines : "Do you suspect the CMBR tells only a quarter of the story?"
All the best.
quantumclaustrophobe
According to this: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_electromagnetic_radiation_has_the_longest_wavelength
"there is no upper limit for a wavelength" - which I found surprising... but, what could give a photon such a low-end amount of energy...?
Is it *possible* to exist - I believe so... *Does* a frequency like this exist? I'm doubting it.