Force Carriers, Mass, and Speed

  • Context: Graduate 
  • Thread starter Thread starter daisey
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Force Mass Speed
Click For Summary
SUMMARY

The discussion centers on the properties of massless particles, specifically photons and gluons. Photons exist solely at the speed of light and do not accelerate to this speed, as they are inherently massless. Gluons, while also massless, are bound by the strong force, making them impossible to isolate as free particles. Theoretical constructs like glueballs, which are composed of gluons, are expected to have mass comparable to pions.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of massless particles in quantum physics
  • Familiarity with the concept of inertia and its relation to mass
  • Knowledge of the strong force and its role in particle interactions
  • Basic grasp of particle physics terminology, including photons and gluons
NEXT STEPS
  • Research the properties of glueballs and their theoretical implications in particle physics
  • Study the strong force and its effects on particle interactions
  • Explore the concept of mass in quantum field theory
  • Investigate the implications of massless particles in modern physics
USEFUL FOR

Physicists, students of quantum mechanics, and anyone interested in the fundamental properties of particles and their interactions.

daisey
Messages
131
Reaction score
3
I understand the photon has no mass, and therefore accelerates to the speed of light instantly. There is no inertia since there is no mass, and mass is a measure of inertia. If this is true, does it also mean that gluons (also mass-less) also travel at (and only) the speed of light?

Daisey
 
Physics news on Phys.org
daisey said:
I understand the photon has no mass, and therefore accelerates to the speed of light instantly.

Just a remark on your post. Photons do not "accelerate" to the speed of light instantly, they only exist at the speed of light. Photons cannot live if not traveling at the speed of light.

Gluons being an interaction between particles of a nucleus also "travels" at the speed of light.

Cheers
 
The answer to this question is quite a bit more subtle than you might think. If it were possible to see a single free gluon, it is certainly true that the gluon would be traveling at the speed of light. However, because gluons are charged under the strong force it is actually impossible to see a lone gluon. The expectation is that the closest we could come to this is finding something called a glueball. Glueballs are hypothetic particles which can be thought of as being made only of gluons bound together by their interactions with each other. If this is correct, glueballs should have mass similar to that of a pion.
 

Similar threads

Undergrad The claymath 4-d QFT problem and virtual particles (as an example)
  • · Replies 36 ·
2
Replies
36
Views
4K
Undergrad Does a certainty in the position imply infinite variation in speed?
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
2K
Undergrad Speed of information in a medium
  • · Replies 38 ·
2
Replies
38
Views
5K
Undergrad The speed of forces, and applying relativity to force carriers
  • · Replies 7 ·
Replies
7
Views
2K
Undergrad Nature of Collision in Compton Scattering
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
1K
Undergrad Could the Discovery of the Graviton Connect Quantum and Classical Physics?
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
2K
Undergrad Why is the speed of photons different?
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
1K
Graduate Coleman: "Spin is a concept that applies only to particles with mass"
  • · Replies 11 ·
Replies
11
Views
2K
Undergrad Giving mass to other particles?
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
2K
Undergrad Do photons that carry orbital angular momentum have mass?
  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
2K