- #1
Spinnor
Gold Member
- 2,214
- 424
Are the gluons that make up a proton or neutron considered virtual particles?
Thanks for your help!
Thanks for your help!
Spinnor said:Are the gluons that make up a proton or neutron considered virtual particles?
Thanks for your help!
SpectraCat said:Hmmm ... protons and neutrons are made of quarks not gluons.
Yes quarks and gluons (and virtual stuff?), my mistake.
However, it's also worth noting that virtual particles only arise in perturbative treatments of theories that are too complex to solve exactly, and are considered to be mathematical artifacts by many physicists.
...
Standard Model being very complex?
...
I'd be interested to hear what you mean by that, Tom. Of course there's an interaction term too.The QCD Hamiltonian which is awfully complicated doesn't allow for a separation of these different energy contributions; it's not something like E(Quarks) + E(Gluons).
Spinnor said:Are the gluons that make up a proton or neutron considered virtual particles?
Thanks for your help!
Virtual particles are particles that exist only for a very short period of time and cannot be directly detected. They are a consequence of the uncertainty principle in quantum mechanics and are constantly being created and destroyed in the vacuum.
Virtual particles have different properties from real particles. They do not have a definite mass, position, or energy, and they do not follow the same laws of physics as real particles. They also cannot be directly observed or measured.
No, virtual particles cannot be directly observed as they exist for such a short time and do not interact with the particles in our everyday world. However, their effects can be observed through the interactions of real particles.
The strong nuclear force, which holds protons together in the nucleus, is mediated by the exchange of virtual particles called gluons. These gluons are constantly being exchanged between protons, providing the necessary force to keep them stable.
Yes, gluons are considered virtual particles as they exist for a very short time and cannot be directly observed. They are constantly being exchanged between protons to maintain their stability, but they do not exist as individual particles within the proton itself.