The math in this article is way above me head. That said, I was listening to an excerpt of a Feynman lecture yesterday, who I find infinitely more accessible. The man had a real skill at teaching....
The math in this article is way above me head. That said, I was listening to an excerpt of a Feynman lecture yesterday, who I find infinitely more accessible. The man had a real skill at teaching. He was speaking on how each photon emitted actually travels every possible path along its route instantly. He goes on to say that the vectors for all but the path of least resistance that we observe it traveling cancel each other out. Is this a layman's way of understanding what these "virtual photons" are, or are they something unrelated?
I find myself wondering if the fact that photons have mass, are simultaneously everywhere, exert gravitational force, and instantly travel all paths somehow relates to what we've labelled "dark matter".
So I can't comment on all of it, but although photons do have momentum (the quotient of Planck's constant and the photon's wavelength), they do not have mass. This is what allows them to travel...
So I can't comment on all of it, but although photons do have momentum (the quotient of Planck's constant and the photon's wavelength), they do not have mass. This is what allows them to travel at, well... the speed of light without requiring infinite energy to get there.
Lacking mass, it is very difficult (likely impossible) for light to exert gravitational effects. Furthermore, as mentioned, light has a much larger effect pushing outward than pulling inward. Of course, cosmologically, this effect is also deeply attenuated at distance, as the expanding universe causes the wavelength to become redshifted, decreasing its aforementioned momentum, in the process, so it can't contribute anything to the dark energy side of the equation, either.
ELI5: "Virtual particles" in general are a mathematical artefact of how we "solve" or describe a bunch of things in particle physics. They can describe "in-between steps" in such cases, and that's...
ELI5: "Virtual particles" in general are a mathematical artefact of how we "solve" or describe a bunch of things in particle physics. They can describe "in-between steps" in such cases, and that's more or less their point mathematically. Whether they really physically exist or they're just a purely mathematical thing doesn't really matter for your average Joe, because you can't measure them anyway
The math in this article is way above me head. That said, I was listening to an excerpt of a Feynman lecture yesterday, who I find infinitely more accessible. The man had a real skill at teaching. He was speaking on how each photon emitted actually travels every possible path along its route instantly. He goes on to say that the vectors for all but the path of least resistance that we observe it traveling cancel each other out. Is this a layman's way of understanding what these "virtual photons" are, or are they something unrelated?
I find myself wondering if the fact that photons have mass, are simultaneously everywhere, exert gravitational force, and instantly travel all paths somehow relates to what we've labelled "dark matter".
So I can't comment on all of it, but although photons do have momentum (the quotient of Planck's constant and the photon's wavelength), they do not have mass. This is what allows them to travel at, well... the speed of light without requiring infinite energy to get there.
Lacking mass, it is very difficult (likely impossible) for light to exert gravitational effects. Furthermore, as mentioned, light has a much larger effect pushing outward than pulling inward. Of course, cosmologically, this effect is also deeply attenuated at distance, as the expanding universe causes the wavelength to become redshifted, decreasing its aforementioned momentum, in the process, so it can't contribute anything to the dark energy side of the equation, either.
ELI5: "Virtual particles" in general are a mathematical artefact of how we "solve" or describe a bunch of things in particle physics. They can describe "in-between steps" in such cases, and that's more or less their point mathematically. Whether they really physically exist or they're just a purely mathematical thing doesn't really matter for your average Joe, because you can't measure them anyway
This is an interesting article about the quantum effect of photons. I’m not a quantum physicist so if anyone has any critique please post it!