No, photons are not considered matter particles. In physics, matter refers to particles that have mass and occupy space. Photons, on the other hand, are particles of light and belong to the category of particles called bosons.
Photons are unique in that they have no rest mass. Rest mass refers to the mass of an object when it is at rest. While particles like electrons and protons have rest mass, photons are massless. This is a fundamental property of photons in the Standard Model of particle physics.
However, despite lacking rest mass, photons do possess energy. The energy of a photon is related to its frequency (ν) or wavelength (λ) through the equation E = hν = hc/λ, where E is the energy, h is Planck's constant, and c is the speed of light in a vacuum.
Photons carry energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation. When photons interact with matter, they can transfer energy to particles, causing various effects like the photoelectric effect or ionization. For example, when a photon is absorbed by an atom, it can excite an electron to a higher energy state or cause the emission of another photon through processes like fluorescence or phosphorescence.
In summary, photons are not considered matter particles because they lack rest mass. However, they do carry energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation and interact with matter, playing a crucial role in various physical phenomena.