THE NATURE OF MATTER

PART I THE BACKGROUND OF MATTER EVIDENCE OF A BACKGROUND OF MATTER
CHAPTER 4

Table of Contents
Last section : Section 2 Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation

CONSEQUENCES AND CONSIDERATIIONS

- VIRTUAL PARTICLE SCEENING
- PARTICLE CREATION
- SPECIAL RELATIVITY
- GENERAL RELATIVITY

VIRTUAL PARTICLE SCREENING
Section 3

The proposed existence of a background ocean of pure matter particles gives insight into the concepts of virtual particles and vacuum energies.

The task of explaining the phenomenon of virtual particle screening has been done so well by P. C. W. Davies in The Forces of Nature, and in such a beautiful poetic fashion, that it is better to recommend the Davies description of the phenomenon, an excerpt of which follows.

"The reader should not imagine that the presence of a cloud of virtual photons is just a heuristic gimmick. These photons cause real, measurable effects, though because of the smallness of the coupling constant the effects are always small. One of the most famous is the tiny shift which occurs in the energy levels of all atoms, but most conspicuously for hydrogen. It comes about because the presence of the electrically charged nucleus disturbs the virtual photon cloud surrounding the orbiting electron, changing its energy by a very small amount.
All quantum particles (not just photons) can exist in virtual form. For example, a vitual electron-positron pair can appear briefly, only to annihilate again within the time permitted by the uncertainty principle. Thus, a photon might find itself converting temporarily into a pair during its flight (Fig. 4.6) . This means that, in principle, two photons can scatter from each other through the interaction of such virtual electron-positron pairs, a process that is impossible classically, where light beams interpenetrate without mutual disturbance.
The fact that all photons, real or virtual, spend part of their time as electron-positron pairs leads to an interesting effect known as vacuum polarization. The virtual photons which surround every charged particle will include an admixture of virtual electron-positron pairs. If the central particle is, say, an electron, its electric charge will tend to attract the virtual positrons and repel the virtual electrons. This polarization produces a screening of the central charge so that the effective charge perceived from afar is less than the actual charge on the electron. Vacuum polarization contributes a tiny, but measurable, amount to the above-mentioned level shift in hydrogen atoms.
Quantum field effects imply that the concept of a vacuum is far more complex than had previously been supposed. Even in the absence of real particles, apparently `empty' space teems with a ferment of virtual particles of all varieties. Indeed, the antics of real particles can be regarded metaphorically as merely the froth on a sea of quivering vacuum activity.
Another important confirmation of the existence of virtual photons concerns the magnetic field of the electron. The effect of the virtual cloud here is to alter very slightly the magnetic momment by 0.1159652%. It is possible to measure this tiny quantity extremely accurately, and in agreement with calculated prediction for the magnetic moment has been obtained better than one part in one billion. There is no doubt that this stunning success is one of the greatest triumphs of modern theorectical physics, and gives great confidence that the underlying ideas of relativistic quantum field theory are correct."
The Forces of Nature by P. C. W. Davies CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS 1986

WHY VIRTUAL PARTICLES ARE EVIDENCE OF THE BACKGROUND OF MATTER

Virtual particles are proposed to manifest the background of matter particles by temporarily absorbing energy, background particles in proximity to energized charge may become, temporarily, electron-positron pairs, which then again annihilate, giving back the energy to the energized host charged particle.

VACUUM ENERGY

The measured vacuum energies are a measure of background field particle density.

Virtual photons are the adjustment of energy between two interacting electrical unit charge particle composites.

CAUSE AND EFFECT

The idea that virtual particles can spontaneously pop out of a vacuum for an instant by borrowing energy from the vacuum is, in a symbolic sense, correct except for the use of the word "spontaneous". The word spontaneous should not be used in a scientific context to imply that an effect happened without a cause. There are no effects without causes.

PARTICLE CREATION
Section 5

Particle creation events are studied routinely in the laboratory. If unit particles of matter are proposed to be permanent, then there needed to be a source of unit particles of matter for the particles created in laboratory particle creation events.

It is proposed that the background ocean particles are the source of unit particles of matter required for the structure of newly created particles in particle creation events.

It is proposed that the momentum energy of accelerated particles is transferred to and combined with unit particles of matter from oceanic particles to form the structure of the newly created particles of matter generated in the creation events.

Presently known particles of matter are proposed to be composed of just two elementary building blocks, units of mass-energy and unit particles of matter.

Since it is proposed that Standard Model particles are made from the two components, unit particles of matter and mass-energy units, and an abundance of unit particles of matter can be found in the background oceanic particles, the only other component required for new particles is energy.

An important result of realizing that unit particles of matter and units of mass-energy are the components of Standard Model particles is that a clearer distinction can be made between matter and mass in the famous equation E=mc². The `m' in the equation E=mc² stands for mass, not matter.

It is the combinations of unit particles of matter and units of energy that is ephemeral, not matter itself.

Energy at All Times Must be Hosted Supposition

It is proposed that energy units must at all times be hosted by a unit particle of matter. If there existed a one to one relationship between unit particles of matter and units of energy, there would be no need for a source of unit particles of matter for the particles created in creation events. The reason is, each energy unit would already possess a unit of matter. The need for a source of unit particles of matter was one of the driving forces in considering a background of massless energyless doublet particles of matter.

If there is one energy unit per unit of matter, then photons would require a doublet particle for each two units of energy, and the photon would be a compound of a number of doublets of unit particles of matter and the same number of pairs of unit particles of energy, which did not seem to be a stable configuration.

A more stable configuration of photons seemed to be a single doublet particle of matter and pairs of energy units, one pair of energy units for each unit of frequency exhibited by the photon.

Both configurations were investigated, and the decision was made tentatively that photons have a many to one relationship between one doublet and many pairs of units of energy, mainly because of the other candidates for evidence of the background of matter, namely magnetic flux and the cosmic microwave background.