m.a. wrote: > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Flammarion" <[email protected]> > To: "Everything List" <[email protected]> > Sent: Wednesday, September 16, 2009 11:25 AM > Subject: Re: Yablo, Quine and Carnap on ontology > > >> >> >> On 16 Sep, 15:51, "m.a." <[email protected]> wrote: >>> the ocean of virtual particles which may give >>> rise to all "real" particles exists somewhere between matter and thought. >> I see no reason to believe that. > > I would be most interested in your view of vacuum fluctuations of virtual > particles. >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_particle
The Wiki article is rather confused and mixes metaphorical and heuristic uses of the term virtual particle with the actual use in physics calculations. In Feynman diagrams there are internal lines representing interactions mediated by virtual particles, i.e. particles that are not on the mass shell. But these diagrams are just a way of getting all the terms in a perturbation expansion. Single diagrams don't represent something that happens. Most physicists (who bother to think about it) don't regard the virtual particles as 'real' because they are, by construction, not observable. They are just a calculational device. Brent --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
