Static forces and virtual-particle exchange: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 08:14, 9 October 2014

Revision as of 20:11, 9 October 2014

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As with any physical theory, there are limits to the validity of the virtual particle picture. The virtual-particle formulation is derived from a method known as [[perturbation theory]] which is an approximation assuming interactions are not too strong, and was intended for scattering problems, not bound states such as atoms. For the strong force binding [[quark]]s into [[nucleon]]s at low energies, perturbation theory has never been shown to yield results in accord with experiments,<ref>[http://www.hep.phy.cam.ac.uk/theory/research/hadronic.html]</ref> thus, the validity of the "force-mediating particle" picture is questionable. Similarly, for [[bound state]]s the method fails.<ref>[http://galileo.phys.virginia.edu/classes/752.mf1i.spring03/Time_Ind_PT.htm]</ref> In these cases the physical interpretation must be re-examined. As an example, the calculations of atomic structure in atomic physics or of molecular structure in quantum chemistry could not easily be repeated, if at all, using the "force-mediating particle" picture.{{fact|date=October 2014}}

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The "force-mediating particle" picture (FMPP) is used because the classical two-body interaction (Coulomb's law for example), depending on six spatial dimensions, is incompatible with the Lorentz invariance of Dirac's equation. The use of the FMPP is unnecessary in nonrelativistic quantum mechanics, and Coulomb's law is used as given in atomic physics and quantum chemistry to calculate both bound and scattering states. A nonperturbative relativistic quantum theory, in which Lorentz invariance is preserved, is achievable by evaluating Coulomb's law as a 4-space interaction using the 3-space position vector of a reference electron obeying Dirac's equation and the quantum trajectory of a second electron which depends only on the scaled time ct. The quantum trajectory of each electron in an ensemble is inferred from the Dirac current for each electron by setting it equal to a velocity field times a quantum density, calculating a position field from the time integral of the velocity field, and finally calculating a quantum trajectory from the expectation value of the position field. The quantum trajectories are of course spin dependent, and the theory can be validated by checking that Pauli's Exclusion Principle is obeyed for a collection of fermions.