On Tue, Aug 27, 2019 at 7:05 PM Alan Grayson <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Tuesday, August 27, 2019 at 2:47:39 AM UTC-6, Alan Grayson wrote: >> >> On Tuesday, August 27, 2019 at 1:59:40 AM UTC-6, Bruce wrote: >>> >>> On Tue, Aug 27, 2019 at 5:39 PM Alan Grayson <[email protected]> >>> wrote: >>> >>>> On Tuesday, August 27, 2019 at 1:08:33 AM UTC-6, Bruce wrote: >>>>> >>>>> On Tue, Aug 27, 2019 at 4:57 PM Alan Grayson <[email protected]> >>>>> wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> But if virtual particles don't exist, if they're based on conceptual >>>>>> errors, what's the basis for claiming the vacuum is not a vacuum of >>>>>> nothingness? AG >>>>>> >>>>> >>>>> Virtual particles are a useful heuristic for evaluating a perturbation >>>>> series. The conceptual error is to reify the terms in this series, >>>>> particularly the virtual particles. Quantum foam, or the picture of >>>>> virtual >>>>> particles fluctuating in and out of existence, everywhere, and all the >>>>> time. Is a major conceptual confusion. There are no such things as quantum >>>>> fluctuations in the requisite sense. Disconnected Feynman diagrams do not >>>>> contribute to physical processes -- this is an elementary text-book >>>>> result. >>>>> >>>>> Bruce >>>>> >>>> >>>> How then do you interpret the Casimir Effect? Isn't it used to >>>> experimentally establish the existence of virtual particles? AG >>>> >>> >>> The Casimir effect is perfectly well explained in terms of Van der Waals >>> type forces. Explanations in terms of virtual particles don't really work >>> because virtual particles do not exert any force on anything -- because >>> they are not real!!!! >>> >>> Bruce >>> >> >> I see. What about the vacuum energy? What does it consist of if not >> virtual particles? AG >> > > Part of what I'm getting at is this; if the vacuum energy has anything to > do with the quantized EM field, the values 1/2*hbar *omega aren't photons! > So what is the form of energy in the vacuum? AG > Good question. Best answer to date is that it is Einstein's cosmological constant. Virtual particles can play no role because disconnected particle loops are necessarily of zero energy. Bruce -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/CAFxXSLTVnR6cXDKrzcQJ9vC300-qSB538Z8%2Bz%2BRhVYRmX9Uxpg%40mail.gmail.com.
