🚀 go-pugleaf

From article <1992Apr9.233448.1@acad2.alaska.edu>, by assib@acad2.alaska.edu:
> The other day a friend of mine mentioned 'Virtual Particles...'
> Could I get some more info on this?
> 
> If you have any feedback, send to:
> ----------------------------------
>       ASSIB@ACAD2.ALASKA.EDU
Put simply, the are an artifact of the uncertainty principle.  One uncertainty
pair (for the sophisticated, read 'set of non commmuting operators') is 
energy and time.  The more certain you are about the energy of a system, the 
less certain you are about the time interval during which the system has the
given energy.  Conversly, if you measure the system over a certain time 
interval, the energy is slightly uncertain. 
	Here's the trick.  This 'extra' energy from the uncertainty in the 
energy measurement can take the form of a particle.  A new particle essentially
steals that energy from the uncertainty and uses it to create its self(e=mc^2).
The particle is free to exist during the uncertainty in the time interval.
	So what happens is the little bit of energy that may or may not be 
there is used to create a particle that only exists for the time that may
or may not be present; it sneaks out when no one is looking, these are 
virtual particles.
	Now the question comes of do these virtual particles really exist, or
like i, are they just a figment of our imagination?  The usual experiment I've
heard of involves a free electrical charge in space.  If virtual particles 
exist, they should be popping into existance around the electron in the form
of virtual positrons.  These virtual positive charges will 'shield' the
electron's charge, and the drop may be measured.  Neat trick!
	Hope that was easy enough to follow.

-- huber@cs.arizona.edu