Photons, as elementary particles, are massless and travel at the speed of light in vacuum. According to the theory of relativity, specifically special relativity, particles with mass cannot reach or exceed the speed of light. As a result, photons, being massless, always travel at the speed of light in all reference frames.
The concept of a reference frame refers to a coordinate system from which observations and measurements are made. In classical physics, reference frames can be defined relative to a particular observer or a system of coordinates. However, special relativity introduces a different framework for describing the behavior of objects traveling at high speeds, approaching the speed of light.
In special relativity, the laws of physics are required to be the same for all inertial reference frames, which are frames that move with a constant velocity relative to each other. However, as an object approaches the speed of light, its relativistic mass increases, and its length contracts along the direction of motion. These effects become more significant as the speed of the object approaches the speed of light. Photons, traveling at the speed of light, are subject to these relativistic effects, which means that their experience of space and time is different from that of slower-moving objects.
From the perspective of a photon, time appears to stand still, and distances along its path contract to zero. In other words, a photon does not experience time or distance as we understand them. This is why photons are said to exist in a frameless state or lack a reference frame. Since time and distance become meaningless at the speed of light, the concept of a reference frame, which relies on measurements of time and space, does not apply to photons.
Therefore, due to their unique properties and the fundamental principles of special relativity, photons cannot have reference frames in the same way that slower-moving objects can.