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EinsteinII
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Can we see elementary particles using any device? I mean the way we can observe smallest of the viruses by a microscope and the farthest of the objects by a telescope?
We can also use virtual particles, with an arbitrarily short wavelength.Soveraign said:When we want to look at even smaller objects, we might use an electron microscope, which allows us to see even shorter wavelengths.
It's an interesting point. The above "Wigner functions" I was referring to are the relativistic equivalent of a wavefunction. We have so-called factorization theorems which ensure that, no matter which interaction takes place, the measured cross sections are always parameterized by those same non-perturbative quantities. So one can measure the Wigner functions in electromagnetic processes, and check that they are indeed the same in weak or strong processes. It's important because it gives us confidence we are really talking about universal functions describing the structures themselves, and not how we look at them.Soveraign said:So when you ask "What does it look like?" what you are really asking is "How does it interact?". And in this case, when you are dealing with fundamental particles, interactions start to become defined in terms of electromagnetic, weak, strong, etc...
EinsteinII said:Can we see elementary particles using any device?
Bob_for_short said:No, because they are not really elementary.
If a noble gas atom can be prepared in a more or less " free" state, the electron and other "elementary" charged particles are so sticky that can be observed only as some "parts" of something, not free. And the "image" obtained from such observations really depends on the state of the entire something.
humanino said:...Outside bound states, I am not sure what kind of "imaging" we could construct. If there is no bound state, there is no stable structure to display since elementary particle are point-like.
EinsteinII said:Can we see elementary particles using any device? I mean the way we can observe smallest of the viruses by a microscope and the farthest of the objects by a telescope?
Soveraign said:It's a good question and hard to answer. When we "look" with our eyes at a regular object, what we actually see are the photons (light) reflecting off (or being emitted by) the object. This works well for even small objects, but there is a limit (primarily related to the wavelength of light). When we want to look at even smaller objects, we might use an electron microscope, which allows us to see even shorter wavelengths.
The point I would like to stress is that when we look at something, what we really are doing is observing how that object interacts with other objects. For example a cat interacting with light to for the image of a "cat". Also you have a virus interacting with electrons (which then interact with a machine) to form the image of a "virus".
So when you ask "What does it look like?" what you are really asking is "How does it interact?". And in this case, when you are dealing with fundamental particles, interactions start to become defined in terms of electromagnetic, weak, strong, etc... To get a feeling for what there interactions "look" like, we might, for example, collide particles together to see what happens. By colliding these particles with higher and higher energies, we start to probe the different ways the particles can interact.
Hope this helps a little, not sure how clear I am being.
-Brian
I've read the same books for years, maybe more than a decade, before I got satisfied with simple questions.ZapperZ said:It is of little use if the answers just blow by over the top of the heads of people who asked.
Because they are in conventional QFT. Some people prefer to believe those are strings, but they have reasons for that.Bob_for_short said:why to say that they are point-like?
Soveraign said:It's a good question and hard to answer. When we "look" with our eyes at a regular object, what we actually see are the photons (light) reflecting off (or being emitted by) the object. This works well for even small objects, but there is a limit (primarily related to the wavelength of light). When we want to look at even smaller objects, we might use an electron microscope, which allows us to see even shorter wavelengths.
The point I would like to stress is that when we look at something, what we really are doing is observing how that object interacts with other objects. For example a cat interacting with light to for the image of a "cat". Also you have a virus interacting with electrons (which then interact with a machine) to form the image of a "virus".
So when you ask "What does it look like?" what you are really asking is "How does it interact?". And in this case, when you are dealing with fundamental particles, interactions start to become defined in terms of electromagnetic, weak, strong, etc... To get a feeling for what there interactions "look" like, we might, for example, collide particles together to see what happens. By colliding these particles with higher and higher energies, we start to probe the different ways the particles can interact.
Hope this helps a little, not sure how clear I am being.
-Brian
No, elementary particles are too small to be seen with the naked eye. They are much smaller than the wavelength of visible light, which is why they cannot be observed using traditional optical microscopes.
Scientists use powerful particle accelerators and detectors to study elementary particles. These tools allow scientists to observe the effects of elementary particles on other particles or on the environment around them.
Technically, no. The act of observing or measuring an elementary particle can change its properties, making it impossible to see it in its original form. However, scientists can study and observe the behavior and interactions of groups of elementary particles.
Yes, scientists can use techniques such as electron microscopy, X-ray crystallography, and spectroscopy to indirectly observe the effects of elementary particles on other particles or materials.
Elementary particles are the building blocks of the universe and understanding their properties and interactions is crucial for understanding the fundamental laws of nature. Furthermore, the technologies used to study elementary particles have practical applications in fields such as medicine and energy production.