We are used to describe the detection of light in terms of particles and its
propagation from the source to the detection, by waves. For instance, the
slowing down of light in a transparent medium is always explained within the
electromagnetic wave framework. We propose to approach that phenomenon through
a purely corpuscular description. We find expression for the refractive indices
which differ slightly from the usual Maxwell wave approach. We thus compare
these expressions against experimental refractive indices and we show that both
reproduce well the data. We show also how this corpuscular framework gives a
very natural interpretation to the self focusing Kerr effect. Finally an
experimental expectation of fluctuation of the speed of light is presented.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figure