RE: What is Meant by "Charge" for Elementary Particles?
February 9, 2016 at 6:17 pm
(This post was last modified: February 9, 2016 at 6:18 pm by Alex K.)
(February 9, 2016 at 6:05 pm)Meandering Atheist Wrote:(February 9, 2016 at 3:27 am)Alex K Wrote: @Meandering Atheist,
I agree but to pick nits,
the exchange of photons as the origin of the em force is pretty well-understood from a theory perspective. I wouldn't call it action at a distance since it is communicated with finite speed ©
Perfect! I was hoping we would get into this. When I say 'action at a distance' I mean that it does not make sense for objects to interact without touching each other. The exchange of photons does little to quell this dilemma, as the photon exchange still occurs without direct contact. The photon may travel from one particle to another, but that doesn't explain how the photon knows that the other particle is there.
Finding intuitions behind these processes described by Feynman graphs is a difficult, but interesting exercise.
I'm not sure the photon needs to know beforehand that there is another electron. Electrons are surrounded by a cloud of virtual photons which they give off and absorb all the time even when they are alone (as indicated by self-energy diagrams). If there is another electron in the vicinity, they can be absorbed by that one from time to time. At least that's my half baked explanation.
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition
