{ "model": { "rank": 1895, "code": "thing-q3198", "model_id": "vr.tr.photon", "name": "photon", "purpose": "Let an agent explain the photon and its properties, relay its role in quantum theory and electromagnetism from physics references, describe applications and specialised terms, and distinguish established physics from speculative uses such as biophoton claims.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Cross-cutting context", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "XCT", "domain": "XCT.QLT", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q3198/", "tier": 2, "score": 123, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "virtual photon", "Lyc photon", "biophoton", "soft photon" ], "aliasCount": 4, "merged": 4, "knownIn": 123, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q3198", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3198", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-13T01:04:35Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 3, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q3198", "registryId": "vr.tr.photon", "name": "photon", "version": "0.2.0-wave.3", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "XCT.QLT" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q3198/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.photon", "name": "photon", "purpose": "Let an agent explain the photon and its properties, relay its role in quantum theory and electromagnetism from physics references, describe applications and specialised terms, and distinguish established physics from speculative uses such as biophoton claims.", "definition": "The elementary particle that is the quantum of the electromagnetic field and the carrier of the electromagnetic force, massless, chargeless, travelling at the speed of light and carrying energy proportional to its frequency, exhibiting both wave and particle behaviour; photons make up all light and other electromagnetic radiation, from radio to gamma rays, with virtual photons mediating interactions in quantum electrodynamics, soft photons at low energy, Lyman continuum photons in astrophysics and the contested term biophoton for weak light emitted by living tissue.", "what_it_is_for": "Not applicable; a fundamental particle.", "affordances": [ "explain properties and behaviour", "relay quantum theory and QED", "describe applications", "distinguish specialised and speculative terms" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Massless gauge boson", "Wave-particle duality", "Energy from frequency", "Carrier of electromagnetism" ], "appearance": "Not visible as an object; perceived as light.", "visual_identification": [ "Quantum of the electromagnetic field", "Real, virtual, soft, Lyman continuum photons", "Electrons are charged fermions; gluons carry the strong force; phonons are lattice vibrations" ], "physical_properties": [ { "quantity": "rest mass", "typical_range": "0", "unit": "kg", "note": "exactly, by theory" }, { "quantity": "spin", "typical_range": "1", "unit": "h-bar", "note": "" }, { "quantity": "energy", "typical_range": "E = h * nu", "unit": "formula", "note": "Planck relation" }, { "quantity": "speed in vacuum", "typical_range": "299792458", "unit": "m/s", "note": "" } ], "families_and_kinds": [ "photons across the electromagnetic spectrum", "virtual photons in QED", "soft photons in scattering theory", "Lyman continuum photons in astrophysics", "entangled photons in quantum optics", "biophoton as a term for ultraweak biological emission, with contested interpretations" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "gauge boson", "why": "in registry terms" }, { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "massless quantum particle", "why": "in registry terms" }, { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "field quantum", "why": "in registry terms" }, { "relation": "mediates", "target": "electromagnetic interaction", "why": "in the Standard Model" } ], "identifiers": [ { "scheme": "PDG", "value_or_pattern": "photon", "note": "Particle Data Group listing" } ], "standards_and_regulation": [ "No regulation; SI definitions involving the speed of light and Planck constant" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Misusing photon concepts in pseudoscience", "Confusing wave and particle pictures", "Overstating biophoton claims" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "understand", "name": "Understand", "description": "What a photon is.", "rationale": "Science.", "layers": [ { "id": "definition", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition and properties.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-finding", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "questions": [ { "text": "What is a photon, and what are its mass, spin, energy and momentum?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Is the question about photons in physics or a speculative use of the term?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "duality", "name": "Duality", "description": "Wave and particle.", "findings": [ { "id": "duality-finding", "name": "Duality", "description": "Duality.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do photons show wave and particle behaviour, as in the photoelectric effect and interference?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which entry fits wave-particle duality?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "theory", "name": "Theory", "description": "Theory.", "rationale": "Science.", "layers": [ { "id": "qed", "name": "QED", "description": "Quantum electrodynamics.", "findings": [ { "id": "qed-finding", "name": "QED", "description": "QED.", "questions": [ { "text": "What roles do real and virtual photons play in quantum electrodynamics and the Standard Model?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which references are standard?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "special", "name": "Special", "description": "Specialised terms.", "findings": [ { "id": "special-finding", "name": "Special", "description": "Special.", "questions": [ { "text": "What are soft photons, Lyman continuum photons and biophotons, and how established is each concept?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Is the presentation clear about contested claims?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "apply", "name": "Apply", "description": "Applications.", "rationale": "Application.", "layers": [ { "id": "technology", "name": "Technology", "description": "Photonics.", "findings": [ { "id": "technology-finding", "name": "Technology", "description": "Technology.", "questions": [ { "text": "How are photons used in lasers, fibre optics, imaging and detectors?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits photonics?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "quantum", "name": "Quantum", "description": "Quantum technologies.", "findings": [ { "id": "quantum-finding", "name": "Quantum", "description": "Quantum.", "questions": [ { "text": "How are entangled photons used in quantum communication and computing, as research reports?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which sources are cited?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "context", "name": "Context", "description": "History.", "rationale": "Context.", "layers": [ { "id": "history", "name": "History", "description": "History of the concept.", "findings": [ { "id": "history-finding", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "questions": [ { "text": "How did Planck, Einstein and later physicists develop the photon concept, and where does the name come from?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the history of quantum mechanics?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "experiments", "name": "Experiments", "description": "Key experiments.", "findings": [ { "id": "experiments-finding", "name": "Experiments", "description": "Experiments.", "questions": [ { "text": "What experiments established the photon, from the photoelectric effect to single-photon interference?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the specific experiment?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should quantum optics be the primary linked entry for applications?", "How should physics references be linked?", "The registry entry has merged aliases including a contested term; should they be split off?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "abstract concept", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a photon, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain the photon and its properties, relay its role in quantum theory and electromagnetism from physics references, describe applications and specialised terms, and distinguish established physics from speculative uses such as biophoton claims.", "characteristics": { "substance": "abstract", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: virtual photon, Lyc photon, biophoton, soft photon.", "4 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 123 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a photon, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "an abstraction with no physical instance", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Nothing to see. What is recognised is an instance of it, and which instances count is exactly what is argued about." ], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "virtual photon", "Lyc photon", "biophoton", "soft photon" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 123 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 4 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one photon from another, and a photon from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a photon, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a photon, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a photon is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a photon, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a photon, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a photon is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a photon sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a photon, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a photon, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a photon is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a photon from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a photon, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a photon, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a photon is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a photon passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a photon between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a photon, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a photon, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a photon is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a photon, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a photon is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a photon, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a photon, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a photon is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "definitions-in-contest", "name": "Definitions and who holds them", "description": "What photon is taken to mean, and by whom.", "rationale": "When a field disagrees about a concept, the disagreement is the content. A model that picks one definition silently destroys the information.", "layers": [ { "id": "competing-definitions", "name": "Competing definitions", "description": "The main readings and the traditions behind them.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-map", "name": "Definitions and their holders", "description": "Each definition with the school or body that holds it.", "questions": [ { "id": "definition-map-q01", "text": "Which definitions of photon are in use, and which tradition or body holds each?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "definition-map-q02", "text": "What turns on the difference between them in practice?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "operationalisation", "name": "Operationalisation", "description": "How it is measured or applied when it has to be.", "findings": [ { "id": "operational-record", "name": "Measures and proxies", "description": "Instruments and indicators used to stand in for it.", "questions": [ { "id": "operational-record-q01", "text": "How is photon operationalised or measured in practice, and by what instrument?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "id": "operational-record-q02", "text": "What does that operationalisation leave out, and when does that matter?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "instances-and-use", "name": "Instances, use and consequence", "description": "What counts as an instance of photon and what follows from calling something that.", "rationale": "Applying a concept is an act with consequences, so a model must say what the label licenses and what it does not.", "layers": [ { "id": "instances", "name": "What counts as an instance", "description": "Clear cases, borderline cases and non-cases.", "findings": [ { "id": "instance-tests", "name": "Tests for an instance", "description": "What would settle whether something falls under it.", "questions": [ { "id": "instance-tests-q01", "text": "What would settle whether something is an instance of photon?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "instance-tests-q02", "text": "Which borderline cases are argued about, and on what grounds?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "consequence", "name": "Consequence of application", "description": "Rights, duties or decisions that follow from the label.", "findings": [ { "id": "consequence-record", "name": "What the label licenses", "description": "What an agent may do once something is classified this way.", "questions": [ { "id": "consequence-record-q01", "text": "What follows practically once something is treated as photon?", "kind": "action" }, { "id": "consequence-record-q02", "text": "What must an agent not infer from the label alone?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a photon came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a photon and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a photon, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a photon, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a photon is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a photon is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a photon, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a photon, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a photon is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 5, "layers": 10, "findings": 12, "questions": 32 } } } }