🚀 go-pugleaf

I would appreciate any help in answer to the following question.

According to the quantum theory of light, when I see a reflection of
myself in a mirror, am I seeing the original photon stream as it left
me.

Or, am I seeing new photons. This may be because of what happens when
the photons hit the mirror. For example, do the photons collide with
mirror atoms and become absorbed into these atoms. These excited atoms
then perhaps give off new photons that reflect back to form the image.
Or perhaps there is some other exchange mechanism that takes place at
the mirror surface. What percentage of the original photons reflect
back to form the image.

When I looked this up in my undergrad textbooks I was told that in
issues such as reflection and refraction light must be treated as
having a wave nature. So, perhaps the above question is not properly
formulated. 

I would very much appreciate any opinions on this, especially if there
are standard reference works that I can consult.

-- 
Jonathan Ostroff

Dep. of Computer Science,
York University,