Calculating Virtual Photon Energy between +q and -q Charges

[sweetvirgogirl]

Charges of +q and -q are separated by a distance L.

What would be a typical energy of a virtual photon they exchange?

 

[emptymaximum]

what have you done so far?

why would they exchange a virtual photon in the first place?

 

[dextercioby]

Why do you mix photons with "distance L" ...?

Daniel.

 

[sweetvirgogirl]

Why do you mix photons with "distance L" ...?
Daniel.

I stated the problem as it is given in the book

 

[dextercioby]

Well, virtual photons are terms used in QED, but "distance L" between 2 pointlike charges has to do with classical electrodynamics, i.e. electrostatics...Do you see anything suspicious...?

Daniel.

 

[emptymaximum]

draw the feynman diagram. do conservation of momentum.
treat it like a collision.

 

[sweetvirgogirl]

bump

 

[El Hombre Invisible]

Can you not just use the time version of the uncertainty principal to determine the energy of the virtual photon? You can express \Delta t in terms of L and c and find \Delta E.