Physics

Particles of light cannot be divided into smaller particles, but if you try to snip off the end of one, instead of shortening it multiplies

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Cutting photons is infinitely weird

Muhammad Fawaid/Alamy

In Greek mythology, cutting one head off the Hydra of Lerna simply resulted in two more heads growing to replace it – and it turns out it’s even worse for photons. If you try to cut a piece off a particle of light, the result is infinitely many more of them being created.

Some particles are elementary, which means that they cannot be broken into smaller pieces. For instance, a proton can be torn into three quarks, but each quark cannot be subdivided further.…