Virtual photon Definition and 25 Threads

(My multipart question is from a very naive perspective, so sorry if it is rife with misunderstandings. Please answer conceptually, with as few & as simple equations as possible. I think that all of the answers to these questions should be understandable to a high schooler, though maybe the...

In Theoretical Minimum: Quantum mechanics, Leonard Susskind describes an electron in the higher energy spin state in a magnetic field radiates a photon of energy ##\hbarγ|B_0|## and flips into the lower energy spin state. I am wondering if this photon is related to the "virutal photon" that...

I'm studying the electron-proton deep inelastic scattering. In the notes that I'm studying from the author states that the time-scale for a virtual photon to interact with a proton is ##τ\sim\frac{1}{Q}##, where ##Q## is the momentum transfer with ##Q\gg M##, which is the mass of the proton. I...

for example, when does an electron repel another electron with an electromagnetic disturbance?

Let's say I feed the same electrical signal into the opposed windings of a contrawound toroidal coil, and that this results in their individual electromagnetic fields cancelling to "zero". Can someone explain what in turn happens to the virtual photons associated with those canceled fields? For...

I am still a bit puzzled by this video: Does this mean that force exerted on an electrically charged particle facilitated by moving through magnetic field B is due to special relativity, and not virtual photons acting as magnetic force carriers? Thanks

Do electrons excite the EM field or do they just create virtual photons that do? If you could only see EMF excitations, would you see the electrons or virtual photons coming from the electrons?

In order to get my head around virtual particles I've created the following question. Maybe some bright person can answer this. If I can answer this question I feel I would have the required understanding to explain virtual particles to other people. In the diagram below, A is a radioactive...

I read in few places that the virtual photons have longitudinal polarization while in some papers they say virtual photons have both transverse and longitudinal polarizations. Can anyone please help me to understand this

what is the correct understanding of a virtual particle? the popular science books would have us believe that a virtual particle magically pops up out of the woodwork, steals some energy and then puts it back before it ( the particl) disappears. Like a thieving employee who steal $100 out of the...

Hi, I have a thought experiment I'd like to share along with a couple of quotes. First, we consider the moment when a body goes from have exactly zero charge to a +Q charge. At that moment, by definition of E field a distance r from point charge q, we have a field propagating from point...

Homework Statement See attachment. Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution So I have shown that the plane wave sol'n satisfies the Klein-Gordon equation by subbing in and reducing the equation to: E^2 = p^2c^2 + m^2c^4 which reduces to: E = pc for an m = 0...

Homework Statement Determine the mass of the virtual photon in each of the lowest-order diagrams for Bhabha scattering (assume the electron and positron are at rest). What is its velocity? (Note that these answers would be impossible for real photons) Note: You can "just write down" the...

Hello all Does virtual photon have energy ? Does virtual photon travel same as speed of light ? That's energy how can calculate ? when a photon absorbed by electron , photon destroyed or changes to virtual photon ?

a.) One electron emits one real photon and it hits another electron. b.) One electron emits one virtual photon and it hits another electron. (Repulsion because of charge repulsion) What is gradual transition between cases a. and b. ? Or maybe, does it not exist?

As I understand it, photons are their own anti-particle, and at all points in space there are a lot of virtual particle-antiparticle pairs being created and annhilated (perhaps infinite?), so it would seem to me that on it's journey from point A to point B that there is at least some likeliehood...

Please teach me this problem: The classical field of real photon obey Maxwell equations,so the speed of light is c=1,therefore real photon is massless particle.But I think virtual photon maybe not obey Maxwell equations because virtual particle is the fluctuation of vacuum.So maybe virtual...

hi, let's suppose 2 electrons are far away each other and therefore they interact very weakly. i wonder if in such case there are as many virtual photons in the case they are very close to each other? because i know that only 1 electron in complete vacuum generates an electromagnetic field and...

derive Coulombs law of electrostatic force by using virtual photon exchange theory of electrostatic field

In introducing the concept of 'virtual photon',Halzen Martin writes (ch#1,P#7) "An ekectron emits a photon (the quantum of electromagnetic field) and as a result,recoils in order to conserve momentum.it is clearly impossible to conserve energy as well,so the emitted photon is definitely not a...

What is the Virtuality for a virtual photon (Q^2). How's it defined? What is the virtual photon's frequency then? Any relations between them? Thanks. :!)

I understand (vaguely) how momentum is exchanged via virtual photons in electromagnetic interactions. But how do the changes in kinetic energy occur? For instance, a proton and electron are at rest separated by a distance x. The proton emits a virtual photon and recoils in the direction of...

Charges of +q and -q are separated by a distance L. What would be a typical energy of a virtual photon they exchange?

QFT states that all forces are due to the exchange of virtual particles, I'm interested in photons and their role in the EM force. I was wondering what the maximum time allowed for existence of an exchange photon is when it's emmitted from a proton in the nucleus of an atom. I'm thinkin' that...

Hello, although being graduated in physics (but not being an expert on QED) I find myself embarassed in trying to explain in very simple terms how the electrostatic force arise from the exchange of virtual photon. Especially when it comes to actually reduce all calculations to the expected...