- #1
evk
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Hi, I'm a little confused about the nature of fields in quantum field theory. I sometimes see people make reference to an "electron field" or other matter field of some sort, and in my understanding, in quantum field theory, ALL the different fundamental particles can be represented as quantized fields.
My questions:
(1) What exactly does it mean for a field to be "quantized"?
(2) Wherever there is an electron (or other particle) in space, in QFT is it described by a field that somehow exists around that area of space? How is this field related to the Schrodinger wave equation? Or is there one electron "field" that surrounds all of space, and all electrons are just disturbances in this field (so wherever there is no disturbance in the field, there is no electron)?
Sorry if I sound confused. Please correct me if I have some fundamental misunderstandings. Thanks,
--Erik
My questions:
(1) What exactly does it mean for a field to be "quantized"?
(2) Wherever there is an electron (or other particle) in space, in QFT is it described by a field that somehow exists around that area of space? How is this field related to the Schrodinger wave equation? Or is there one electron "field" that surrounds all of space, and all electrons are just disturbances in this field (so wherever there is no disturbance in the field, there is no electron)?
Sorry if I sound confused. Please correct me if I have some fundamental misunderstandings. Thanks,
--Erik