No It cannot, It would have infinite mass, and break the space time fabric vibrating close to planck frequency.

Stefano,  But a photon with the energy of the electron's mass CAN travel at the speed of light. If it could carry the electron's charge and be the electron, the problem could be solved.

A colleague asked me 4 questions about my article "The electron is a charged photon". Here they are with my answers:

1. How can a spin 1/2 particle be a spin 1 particle?

To more fundamentally describe the photon, the electron and other particles, in my view it’s necessary to bring back the term "energy quantum” (I call it "transluminal energy quantum” in some other articles) to mean a fundamental quantum entity, whose frequency is a variable f and whose energy is E=hf . But I’m giving the term “energy quantum” , which was the original term for “photon", a more expanded meaning than just “photon”. I didn’t discuss the energy quantum in the current paper--perhaps I should. The idea is that the energy quantum can transform into a variety of different elementary particles (such as a photon or an electron but also other standard model or non-standard model particles) by having different energies and energy configurations and different observable properties. These energy-quantum configurations add observable properties to the energy quantum such as mass, speed, wavelength, momentum, spin, electric charge, magnetic moment, flavor, color charge. A “normal” photon is a linearly moving energy quantum with frequency f, energy E=hf , uncharged, speed c, wavelength c/f , z-component of spin = + or - hbar. An electron is INTERNALLY a charged photon. The electron’s energy quantum has an internal frequency f, energy E= hf = gamma m c^2 (the latter being externally measurable), with internal speed c, internal momentum p=gamma mc = hf/c=E/c, and internal wavelength lambda=c/f (all of these internal properties are the properties of a normal photon). But the electron’s energy quantum also has an observable charge -e, observable speed v , observable momentum = gamma mv, observable de Broglie wavelength h/(gamma mv), and observable z-component of spin + or - hbar/2 , all derived from to the properties of the internal photon. So an electron is internally a photon but not a “normal” photon since the electron’s energy quantum moves internally in a helical rather than a straight trajectory, is charged, and has a different measurable speed v, momentum and spin than the “normal” photon.

2. What about all the other leptons and quarks?

They would be formed from different configurations of the basic energy quantum. The muon and tau’s energy quantum configurations would be similar to the electron’s. The six charged quarks could be described as being composed of electric-charged gluons, similar to the electron being described as an electric-charged photon.

3. What new predictions do you make beyond the standard model?

Variations of the helically moving energy quantum model for the electron predict a set of particles with mass, besides the electron: having spin= hbar/n for n=1,2,3,4... , depending the number n of loops the internal photon makes around its axis for 1 photon wavelength. I’ve predicted two possible dark matter particles with mass -- one a fermion and one a boson, that could be WIMP candidates (described in my article “The transluminal energy quantum model of the cosmic quantum"). This approach to the electron also predicts the development of variations of the Dirac equation that will return particle spin values of hbar, hbar/3, hbar/4, hbar/5 etc. that are consistent with the relativistic energy-momentum equation E^2=p^2 c^2 + m^2 c^4 that Dirac used to develop his equation.

4. What about flavor and color?

They would represent observable properties of various configurations of the energy quantum.

Dear Richard!

This question of yours is also interesting. At first I would say: No, an electron cannot travel at the speed of light - restricted to free electrons. If electrons formed up in girds, they can by all appearances. Observations in the upper atmosphere supports that conclusion and also the electrical conductivity. More precise: Not the electron-particles are traveling, but their force effect or coherence or interrelationship...

I think, we have too many old theories whichever no longer able to keep pace with experimental evidences.

(I apologise for my bad English, but my mother tongue is German.)

Hello Hans-G.

Thank you for your interest and your comments. Yes, I think it's time for new ideas about understanding the nature of the electron.