On Thursday, August 29, 2019 at 1:12:09 AM UTC-6, Philip Thrift wrote: > > > > On Wednesday, August 28, 2019 at 5:32:23 PM UTC-5, Alan Grayson wrote: >> >> >> >> >> Phil, how about your considered opinion of his analysis of virtual >> particles? As Bruce indicated, some scientists are able to put aside their >> religious beliefs in analyzing physical theories. TIA, AG >> > > > > I suppose if particles aren't real in one's scheme of things, then any > kind of temporary particles aren't either. > > https://www.mat.univie.ac.at/~neum/physfaq/therm/ > > For microscopic experiments, the thermal interpretation claims that > particles (photons, electrons, alpha particles, etc.) are fiction, > simplifications appropriate under special circumstances only. *In reality > one has instead beams (states of the electron field, an effective alpha > particle field, etc., concentrated along a small neighborhood of a > mathematical curve) with approximately known properties (charge densities, > spin densities, energy densities, etc.) *If one places a detector into > the path of a beam one measures some of these densities - accurately if the > densities are high, erratically and inaccurately when they are very low. > > It is a historical accident that one continues to use the name particle in > the many microscopic situations where it is grossly inappropriate to think > of it in terms of a tiny bullet moving through space. If one restricts the > use of the particle concept to situations where it is appropriate, or if > one does not think of particles as ''objects'' - in both cases all mystery > is gone, and the foundations become fully rational and intelligible. > > > > I doubt anyone is going to find his "physics" useful for anything. > > *He should just stick to doing numerical analysis and scientific > computing, an important area in applied mathematics and computer science.* > > @philipthrift >
Generally, if we want to be absolutely strict, particles are idealizations which don't exist, since one cannot contain finite mass or energy in zero volume. However, the point you seem to be missing is that virtual particles are not like the idealizations we're familiar with. They are off-shell, which I think means they don't obey the total energy formula of SR. AG -- 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/7e9c2ce3-647a-4475-be6f-569107d6d3af%40googlegroups.com.
