Message-Id: <v01540b00b05a964522c0@[12.64.1.23]>
To: pinhole@exploratorium.edu
From: kstreet@worldnet.att.net (Karen Street)
Subject: Re: Matter in a vacuum
Date: Fri, 3 Oct 1997 21:05:14 +0000
Eiger,
You mention that matter can appear out of the Higg's field; and
>then go on to talk about matter appearing out of a strong electric field.
Energy can become matter. It's the energy stored in the Higg's field or
electric field that becomes matter, according to E = mc2.
>And is there a difference between virtual photons and the ones which we
>see? Are the virtual photons kind of the same Heisenberg quirks?
I'm not sure about virtual photons, but virtual particles can appear and
disappear in a time too short to measure. If they are only here for a short
amount of time, they don't have to obey the same conservation of
energy/mass equations. Or as you say, it's a Heisenberg quirk.
Can they
>both create matter equally well, and since energy has mass, why are we
>making these distinctions?
Energy is mass. Or easier to understand, energy can become mass
(matter/antimatter pair production) or mass can become energy (pair
annihilation). There are other examples, for example, most of the "mass" of
the proton is not the "mass" of the quarks, but the "energy" stored in
keeping them together.
>Is it a resonance thing where there can be a change in the form of
>energy/matter?
Someone else can handle this question.
>Does a Higgs field have a boson?
>equivalent to a photon, actually, there are Higg's bosons aren't there?
The Higg's boson is one way physicists describe a Higg's field, or a Higg's
field is one way of describing a Higg's boson.
To start at the beginning, physicists produced this totally splendiferous
theory of fundamental particles: quarks, electrons, neutrinos, and a few
other things. Protons and neutrons don't belong to the chart because they
are not fundamental, they are made of quarks. It's a really splendid
theory, but there a few shortcomings, one of which is no answer to the
question: where does mass come from?
So Higg's particles (technically a boson) or fields were tagged on to the
theory. The mass of any particle would then depend on how strongly it
interacts with the Higg's particle/field.
>I apologize for all these questions.
Just answer the physiology questions that come up and we'll call it even!
>Maybe you would be better off suggesting a good book.
Suggestions anyone?
Best wishes and enjoy,
Karen