Does the electromagnetic wave exist after photon absorbtion?

[hobz]

Suppose I have an antenna transmitting a signal.

 

Around the antenna I have several receiving antennas.

 

Now I vary the energy of the transmitting antenna so that it corresponds to only one photon.

 

If a receiving antenna absorbs the photon, what happens to the electromagnetic wave propagating throughout space in the, say, the oppsite direction?

[swansont]

Suppose I have an antenna transmitting a signal.

 

Around the antenna I have several receiving antennas.

 

Now I vary the energy of the transmitting antenna so that it corresponds to only one photon.

 

If a receiving antenna absorbs the photon, what happens to the electromagnetic wave propagating throughout space in the, say, the oppsite direction?

 

Your two scenarios are incompatible with each other. QM vs classical

 

In the QM view, there is a probability of going in any direction, but the wave function collapses when the photon interacts.

[hobz]

So the EM wave does not exist in the QM scenario?

[swansont]

Not as a classical EM wave.

[hobz]

But as [math]\Psi[/math]?

[swansont]

Yes.