Propagators and Virtual Particles

Abstract

So, if a gauge wave takes some potential out of the original wave, how can any wave be sustainable? After a while, any wave producing gauge waves would have no energy left. So, we discuss how that works. We will discover how gauge waves are not true waves and what that means. Then we arrive at the concept of virtual particles and see why they can be described as a disturbance of the field, rather than a real field quantum. We explain how they are not on the mass-shell as explained earlier. Finally, we understand how they are produced and re-absorbed, as well as how a quantum actually consists of a cloud of virtual particles adding up to the field quantum. We revisit the way a force gets created from the virtual particle perspective and see why that is similar to the wave picture. We show how virtual particles exist in the vacuum, which is therefore never completely empty. In discussing this we introduce Feynman diagrams and explain what a propagator is. We introduce anti-particles and explain why they have an opposite charge and why they move backwards in time. Finally, we discuss the consequences for the arrow of time