A smart mathematical tool known as virtual particles unlocks the strange and mysterious internal action of the subatomic particles. What will happen to these particles in atoms would not be inexplicable without this tool. Calculations, using virtual particles, predict the strange behavior of subatomic particles with such incredible accuracy that some scientists believe that “they actually have to exist”.
Virtual particles are not real – it is said so right in their name – but if you want to understand how real particles interact with each other, they are inevitable. These are the main means to describe three forces in nature: electromagnetism and strong and weak nuclear forces.
True particles are pieces of energy that can be “seen” or detected with the right instruments; This feature makes them notice or real. On the other hand, virtual particles are a complex mathematical tool and cannot be seen. Physicist Richard Feynman invented them by describing the interaction of real particles.
However, many physicists are not convinced of this sliced and dried difference. Although researchers cannot detect these virtual particles because calculation tools they predict many subtle effects, which are extremely sensitive experiments confirmed to 12 decimal places that do not understand. This accuracy is like measuring the distance between the north and south poles to a width of better than one hair.
This level of measurement and calculation agreement makes virtual particles the most tested idea in science. It makes some physicists ask: Can a mathematical remedy become real?
Accounting tool
Virtual particles are a tool that physicists use to calculate how the forces affect the microscopic subatomic world. The forces are real because they can be measured.
However, instead of trying to calculate forces directly, physicists use a bookkeeping system, where transient virtual particles carry force. Virtual particles not only make calculations easier to control, but also solve the long -term problem of physics: how does the force work in the empty space?
Virtual particles exploit the natural blurry of the subatomic world, where if these ephemeral particles live briefly, they can also briefly borrow their energy from empty space. The danger of the energy balance hides this short imbalance, which allows virtual particles to influence the real world.
One great advantage of this tool is that mathematical operations that describe forces between particles can be visualized as schemes. They tend to look like cartoons of PingPong particles, played with virtual particles. Charts – duplicated Feynman’s scheme – offer a great intuitive system, but they also provide virtual particles of reality aura that is deceptive.
It is surprising that this virtual particle -based calculation method creates some of the most accurate forecasts in all science.
Reality verification
All matter is made of main building blocks called atoms. Atoms, in turn, are made of small positively charged particles called protons in their core, surrounded by even smaller negatively charged particles called electrons.
As a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Mississippi State, I do experiments that often refer to the idea that the electrons and protons visible to our instruments interact with virtual particles. My colleagues and I recently measured the size of the proton by very accurately by bombing the hydrogen atoms with an electron beam. This measurement assumes that electrons can “feel” the proton in the center of the hydrogen atom, exchanging virtual photons: electromagnetic energy particles.
Physicists use virtual particles to calculate how two electrons repel each other, with exceptional accuracy. Participating forces are depicted as accumulated by the impact of two electrons selling virtual photons.
When two metal plates are placed extremely close to the vacuum, they attract each other: this is called the Casimir effect. Physicists can accurately calculate the force that combines plates using virtual particle mathematics. Whether virtual particles really are or not, mathematics predicts exactly what researchers are watching in the real world.
Another mysterious forecast made using a kit of virtual particle tools is the so -called hawk radiation. When the virtual pairs of particles appear in the edge of the black holes, sometimes the severity of the black hole grabs one partner and the other escapes. This slit makes the black hole slowly evaporate. Although Hawking has not yet been directly noted, researchers recently noted this indirectly.
Useful fiction
Let’s go back to the question: Can a mathematical tool become real? If you can predict everything about power by imagining that it is carried by virtual particles, are these particles considered real? Is their fancy status important?
These questions are continued to be divided into these questions. Some want to “just shut and calculate” – one of the famous Feynman scents. So far, virtual particles are the best way to describe how particles behave. However, researchers are developing alternative methods that do not need them at all.
If these approaches are successful, virtual particles may disappear permanently. Successfully or not, the existence of alternatives indicates that virtual particles can be useful fiction, not physical truth. It also corresponds to the model of earlier science revolutions – the ether example comes to mind. Physicists invented the ether as a medium through which the waves of light traveled. The experiments were well in line with the calculations using this tool, but they could not actually detect it. Eventually, Einstein’s theory of relativity showed that it was unnecessary.
Virtual particles are a pronounced paradox of contemporary physics. They should not exist, but they are necessary to calculate everything from the strength of magnets to the behavior of black holes. They reflect a deep dilemma: sometimes the best insights of reality occur carefully constructed illusions. After all, confusion about virtual particles can only be the cost of understanding the main forces.
This article has been published from a conversation, non -profit, independent news organizations that provide you with facts and reliable analysis to help you give meaning to our complex world. It was written by: Dipangkar Dutta, Mississippi State University
Read more:
Dipangkar Dutta receives funding from the US Energy and NSF Department.