Vinaire's Blog

Reference: Answer from Barak Shoshany at What is quantum field theory?

I loved the answer from Barak Shoshany. My understanding of Quantum Field Theory is developing as follows.

(1)    A “particle” is a high frequency pulse in a low-frequency background field. We may refer to the low-frequency field as the corresponding “space”.

(2)    Movement of a “particle” within the “space” is like movement of a pulse relative to other pulses within a field.

(3)    A pulse is seen as continuous with the surrounding field. Thus a “quantum particle” is always continuous with the surrounding “field space”.

(4)    The steep gradient of frequency change from “field space” to “quantum particle” appears as gravity around a particle. The high frequency of the particle appears as mass.

(5)    The “quantum particle” may be wide enough to contain a still higher “frequency spike” within it. The frequency spike shall appear as “condensed particle” within the particle. The particle shall now be perceived relatively as space.

(6)    Thus there can be more condensed particle within a particle; and more condensed space within a space. It is just how you look at it. At higher frequencies the “particle – space” shall appear more condensed.

(7)    Thus all particles shall be related to each other. They will maintain continuity among themselves.

(8)   The “wave-particle” duality is now adequately explained by this iterative “particle – space” model.

(9)   The nucleus of an atom is a particle within the electronic field of the atom. And the electronic field of the atom is a particle within the field we call space. So the nucleus of an atom is a “particle within a particle”. This makes atom a “compound particle”.

(10)  The particle is a high frequency pulse within a pulsating field. Its motion shall be measured relative to similar pulses in the field. It may appear either motionless or in motion.

(11)  The Higgs field is more like the theoretical field of zero frequency or “undisturbed space”. It is the basis of all other “disturbed spaces” or fields.

(12)  Any spike in Higgs field will appear as “creation of mass” because one is going from zero to a finite frequency. To go from zero to the mass of atomic nucleus is a big jump in frequency and will require a large amount of energy.

(13)  Fields interact with each other. A field converts energy from interaction into a particle. Energy is conserved but not the number of particles.

(14) The location of a particle shall be the “footprint” of the particle in its relative space. This “footprint” is a finite dimension of the order of the wavelength of the surrounding space. This location may be approximated by a Euclidean point only when the particle is highly condensed, such as, the nucleus of an atom.

(15) Heisenburg’s Uncertainty principle assumes that all locations may be approximated by a Euclidean point. This assumption is questionable.
.

The idea of space comes from dimensions of solids or matter. But matter is not the most basic physical substance. Underlying matter we have the field. How does this change the concept of space?

It is interesting to study the interface between matter and field. That is the area Quantum Mechanics is looking at. Quantum Mechanics have had lots of successes, so Quantum Mechanics is mostly right. But its math is very complicated. Can that math be simplified without rendering QM wrong, because QM is not wrong! If we can simplify the math of QM then I am sure we can get further mileage out of it.

Where is the limitation on QM coming from? I think it is the uncertainty in our concept of space. Our feel for space is based on matter. We do not have a feel for field. Our concept of space is tied to physical substance. Our understanding of the basic physical substance has moved from matter to field, but not the understanding of space.

What is field compared to matter? When particles collide in atomic and nuclear reactions, we see emission of radiation. It seems that matter cannot be divided indefinitely as matter. Somewhere along the way matter seems to divide into field.

What is wave function? A wave function is trying to define the field. What does probability in a wave function mean? I don’t think it provides the chance of locating a particle in space because the concept of particle and space is in question here. A particle seems to be a “peak in probability”, and the background is not space but the adjacent valley. These “peaks and valleys” are relative, which are mimicking “particles and space”.

The atom exists as a “particle” in the relative “space” of outside low-frequency field. The nucleus of an atom exists as a “particle” in the relative “space” of the electronic region. This idea is not very different from the idea of a “quantum” in QM.

Different particles are different “peaks” in the space provided by the “valleys” of the field. The “peak” is a sudden jump in frequency (energy) from the frequency that is characteristic of the field. The characteristic frequency of a field gives a character to “space”.

There seems to be a spike in frequency at the surface of the atom, and another huge spike at the surface of the nucleus. “Particles”, such as, electrons, atoms, and nuclei are stable configurations. The “particles” of Standard Model are also relatively stable configurations. This explains how there are particles within particles.

What does the zero mass of a photon means? Mass seems to come about when there is sharp spike in frequency. That means there is no sharp spike in frequency within a photon. The photon is the “space” part of a field. The photon then stands out as a “particle” in a “space” of lowest frequency possible. That would be a field approaching zero frequency. That would be “pure space”.

.