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Is quantum foam just Force Carrier field line interactions?
(just something rattling around in the back of my mind lately- seeing if anyone has any input on this)
By field lines I mean like the lines you see when you put iron shavings over a magnet on a piece of paper- thats the real world scale representation of a field of the electromagnetic force, and the individual traced out lines are not lines of force per se, but rather "zones of more likely probability" where the shavings gather. [This question aims at what happens when multiple "zones of more likely" overlap.]
The Field of the magnet is a "cloud" of the field of force of magnetism, and this field has the force of magnetism in every square nanometer of 3d space that in encompases, not just in the more-probable field lines.
All forces of nature carry these forces through the "force carriers" of the standard model: Photon, gluon, boson, etc, that emit outward from the particles applying the force in question, out in all directions for the duration of their "life". Gluons have a very short range of life, photons a very long one. These Force carriers stream out in all directions, forming the Field.
So heres the question: could the "virtual particles" of quatum foam be caused by/ represented by these force carriers as they move out, overlap with others, combine in other ways out in what is generally considered "empty space"; to _cause_ these virtual particle uncertain potentialities into actuality for their brief existence?
This leads me to the next leap: does this mean that quantum foam only exists in a "vacuum" populated by such force carriers? Would a truly TRULY empty cube of space- devoid of any force carrier intrusion, still evidence virtual particles? [dont think there is any way to test this, stuck in a gravity well, within a magnetosphere and such as we are]
And the final leap of "what if": if quantum foam ONLY exists within overlapping fields of forcecarriers caused by matter, could these virtual particles, not endemic to all space afterall, be the Dark Matter/Dark Energy everyone is looking for?
2 Answers
- 9 years agoFavorite Answer
It is very difficult to even understand your question answering it finally in conclusive and convincing manner is out of question. But I wish to record my musing related to your question or its possible answer. To understand anything especially as difficult as your question, one should always try to take the simplest possible aspect of your question. Let us consider electrostatic force between two protons, or single ionized hydrogen ions. It is difficult to find them at rest. let us mentally consider them at rest and only talk about only electrostatic force between them, as we know both have magnetic moment too there will be electromagnetic force between them. Classically, we were visualizing this through the concept of lines of force which is a mathematically drawn curve traced in the region between the two protons. If we have really very tiny electric dipoles, then they can arrange themselves along this curve and produce a line of force physically in space. [The pattern will be similar if we sprinkle iron filings in the region between two magnetic north pole
Whether we do this or not the whole imagination is time independent, something being viewed and imagined at the same time. In the ultimate analysis classically there is nothing in between, in other words it is action at a distance.
In the realm of Quantum Mechanics (QM) and Quantum field theory, the interaction between protons is because of exchange of particles (virtual photons). Now the very idea of exchange, although of virtual particle cannot be time independent. When a weak force like gravitation warps space-time, why should forces, EM, weak and strong stronger do nothing to space-time is a big contradiction in terms.
I do not think I have answered your question. I think quantum foam must contain particles if not real virtual but neither the real nor the virtual ones should keep the space-time structure in tact.
- ?Lv 45 years ago
Yeah....that didn't end up being the answer when we wondered why some stars had a retrograde movement, it won't end up being the answer here either. The strong and weak force both have solid models that don't include a god.
