ok so...let's clarify a few things first
by a photon retaining information you mean the post interaction or source energy profile? (bounced of a planet or came from a star eg...)
http://phys.org/news/2013-09-scientists-never-before-seen.html
This was the experiment i was referring to.
this is another interesting one:
Indeed, light is this funky mixture of classical and quantum phenomenon, exhibiting properties of both waves and particles. This is great for engineers who wish to exploit these anti-social attributes, allowing them to create such things as optical fibre cables that stretch for miles. But it's a constraint if you want to transmit information through secure quantum channels, or for building optical gates. This latest breakthrough could change that.
A team of researchers at the University of Vienna created a strong interaction between two photons by using an ultra-thin glass fibre. The interaction was so strong that the phase of the photons was altered by 180 degrees.
"It is like a pendulum, which should actually swing to the left, but due to coupling with a second pendulum, it is swinging to the right. There cannot be a more extreme change in the pendulum's oscillation", noted study co-author Arno Rauschenbeutel in a statement. "We achieve the strongest possible interaction with the smallest possible intensity of light."
So the interpretation of photon nature before and post interaction has been shown to be potentially different than what was accepted as true for years.
They can interact with each other and possibly hold information as soon as projected from its source via their path of travel. Being able to create matter and also showing strong interaction under extreme circumstances in experiments here also opens the door to re-examine their nature in space since, obviously, there can be extreme circumstances at a distance that we may or may not be currently aware of. If they are truly traveling at light speed (makes sense but maybe they travel at varying speeds depending on the given circumstance (?)) and can show interaction with one another as well as having the potential to create matter..it is safe to say that they can and do hold information with or without being manipulated by human experiment...and it is further generally accepted that traveling at light speed..in an anthropomorphic sense..that they then also do not experience "time".
Does that make any sense? (legit question..wondering if my assumptions are off-base here)


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