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Prashan Shan
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1).Virtual Photons forms in pairs like particles and anti particles? or
2).by borrowing energy from future? or
3) in both ways?
2).by borrowing energy from future? or
3) in both ways?
but i saw on a website that "Physicists create light out of nothing" and it mentioned that it is due to Casimir effect.phinds said:Virtual photons are a mathematical convenience. They do not have actual existence.
"saw it on a website" is not a valid citation on this forum. I'm not an expert on this but it has been discussed over and over and over here on this forum and it is my understanding that, as I said, virtual photons are just a mathematical convenience to help explain certain phenomena and do not actually exist.Prashan Shan said:but i saw on a website that "Physicists create light out of nothing" and it mentioned that it is due to Casimir effect.
ok let it be, but why it cannot exist?ChrisVer said:Virtual particles are exactly mathematical entities, so they don't exist.
However given the fluctuations of the vacuum, you can create things "out of nothing" (except for the energy you are giving) just by letting the fields excite. In particular an virtual particle is an off-shell particle, however given enough energy the particle can become on-shell.
The vacuum energy is infinite, however the infinite+some more, can give you something real ... (the strangeness of translating QFT in english)
Prashan Shan said:ok let it be, but why it cannot exist?
You are somewhat asking the wrong question. Why SHOULD it exist? Unicorns do not exist. Do you ask why they cannot exist? Lots of things don't exist. Do you worry about all of them?Prashan Shan said:ok let it be, but why it cannot exist?
Lol...Lots of things don't exist.
If they do, they would already exist at the classical level, because treelevel diagrams contain "virtual particles".Prashan Shan said:ok let it be, but why it cannot exist?
If it has no physical reality, would you please explain how Casimir force originates between two plates in an empty vacuum?phinds said:Virtual photons are a mathematical convenience. They do not have actual existence.
A_s_a_d said:If it has no physical reality, would you please explain how Casimir force originates between two plates in an empty vacuum?
It would be very much helpful. :)ChrisVer said:If you wish further explanation, I could illustrate the simplest scenario proof.
I'm sorry, but I can't follow you. How can the difference between two "infinities" result in a finite number? After all, there is no number known as "infinity" - it is singular in its kind, and the difference should come out to 0. (You can't have different kinds of infinities)ChrisVer said:difference of the infinity of the one region and the infinity of the other, you get a fixed number
Actually there are an infinite number of different infinities that ARE different from each other. Look up "aleph number" for more discussion.PWiz said:(You can't have different kinds of infinities)
Virtual photons are formed through a process called quantum fluctuation, where energy is borrowed from the vacuum of space and transformed into a photon for a very short period of time.
Virtual photons act as the carriers of the electromagnetic force, interacting with charged particles and transferring energy between them.
No, virtual photons cannot be directly observed or detected as they exist for a very short period of time and do not have measurable physical properties. However, their effects can be observed through experiments and calculations.
Virtual photons and real photons differ in several ways. Virtual photons have no mass, do not travel at the speed of light, and do not follow the inverse square law of real photons. They also do not carry energy and cannot be directly detected.
No, virtual photons can also be present in material media, such as in atoms or in the space between atoms. In these cases, they play a role in the interactions between charged particles in the material.