Can a virtual mathematical tool become real? Recent experiences say yes.
An intelligent mathematical tool known as virtual particles Unravel the strange and mysterious internal functioning of the subatomic particles. What happens to these particles within the atoms would remain inexplicable without this tool.
Calculations that use virtual particles provide for the bizarre behavior of subatomic particles with such incredible accuracy that some scientists think that “They must really exist”.
Virtual particles are not real – the name itself says that – but if you want to understand how real particles interact with each other, they are inevitable. Are essential tools to describe three of the forces found in nature: the electromagnetism e and nuclear forces Strong and weak.
Real particles are energy clusters that can be “seen” or detected by appropriate instruments; This feature is that it makes them observable, or real. Virtual particles are a sophisticated mathematical tool and cannot be seen. The physical Richard Feynman invented them to describe interactions between real particles.
But many physicists are not convinced of this simple distinction. Although investigators cannot detect these virtual particles, such as calculation tools, they predict many subtle effects that ultrasensible experiences have confirmed with impressive 12 decimal places. This accuracy is like measuring the distance between the north and south poles with a precision higher than a hair.
This level of agreement between measurements and calculations makes virtual particles the most strict idea examined in science. This forces some physicists to question: Can a mathematical tool become real?
An accounting tool
Virtual particles are the tool that physicists use to calculate how forces act in the microscopic subatomic world. The forces are real because they can be measured. But instead of trying to calculate the forces directly, physicists use a accounting system in which short -term virtual particles carry strength.
Virtual particles not only make calculations easier to deal with, but also solve an old problem in physics: How does a force act in empty space?
Virtual particles exploit the natural inaccuracy of the subatomic world, where, if these ephemeral particles live for a short period, they can also, for a brief period, borrow their energy into empty space. The cloudiness of the energy balance hides this brief imbalance, which allows virtual particles to influence the real world.
A great advantage of this tool is that mathematical operations that describe the forces between particles can be viewed as diagrams. They tend to look like figures of particle ping sticks of virtual particles. The diagrams – called Feynman diagrams – They offer an excellent intuitive structure, but also give the virtual particles an aura of deceiving reality.
Surprisingly, this method of calculation based on virtual particles produces some of the most accurate predictions of all science.
Verification of reality
All matter consists of basic construction blocks called atoms. Atoms, in turn, are made up of small positively charged particles, called protonswhich are at its core, surrounded by even smaller particles, negatively charged, called electron.
As a teacher of physics and astronomy at the State University of Mississippi, Dutta Branded experiments often based on the idea that electrons and protons observed in our instruments interact by changing virtual particles. Dutta and his colleagues recently measured the size of the proton very accurately, bombarding hydrogen atoms with a bundle of electrons. This measurement assumes that electrons can “feel” the proton in the center of the hydrogen atom by changing virtual photons: electromagnetic energy particles.
Physicists use virtual particles to calculate as two electrons repel each other with extreme accuracy. The forces involved are represented as the accumulated effect of the two electrons that exchange virtual photons.
When two metal plates are placed extremely close to each other in a vacuum, they attract: this is known as. Physicists can accurately calculate the force that unites the plates using the mathematics of virtual particles. Regardless of whether virtual particles are really there or not, mathematics predicts exactly what researchers observe in the real world.
Another mysterious forecast made with the virtual particle tool kit is the call. When pairs of virtual particles appear on the edge of black holes, sometimes the severity of the black hole grabs a partner while the other escapes. This slit causes the black hole to slowly evaporate. Although Hawking radiation has not yet been directly observed, the investigators have observed it indirectly recently.
Let’s go back to the question: Can a mathematical tool become real? If you can perfectly predict everything about a force by imagining that it is transported by virtual particles, do these particles qualify as real? Does your fictional statute matter?
