Re: Field Quanta

On 2007-02-08, Oh No <NotI@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Thus spake Arnold Neumaier <Arnold.Neumaier@xxxxxxxxxxxx>

[...] Exchange particles are ''virtual particles''
- as the name says, purely fictitious objects -, introduced solely
to let the complicated multidimensional integrals arising in quantum
field theory (and abbreviated by Feynamn diagrams) look somewhat
tangible. See the entry ''How real are 'virtual particles'?''
in my theoretical physics FAQ at
http://www.mat.univie.ac.at/~neum/physics-faq.txt

Thus any 'explanations' of what virtual particles do is meaningless.
You could as well ask how the person (virtual image) in the mirror
you are looking manages to move its hand when you lift your hand.

This is often asserted as though a definite fact, but it is actually
just a point of view, one to which Feynman himself did not subscribe. He
considered that we should not distinguish between real and virtual
particles.

There are many points of view and yours maybe one of them, Feynman's may
be another, and mine a third. All of these points of view may be equally
valid and allowed to disagree when discussing physics informally.

However, the same can no longer be said when we leave the informal realm
in favor of the quantitative and scientific one. Then, a physicist, that
considers the question "What is a virtual particle?" in earnest, will
not be able to find a definition that satisfies what is usually mean by
both "virtual" and "particle".

The only definition that I know of that most can agree on is: a "virtual
particle" is an internal line on in a Feynman diagram. Since Feynman
diagrams only lives on paper, then so do virtual particles. A
quantitative treatment of these wiggly lines on papar as "particles" is
truly impossible.

Igor

.

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