In the previous post, I described an asymmetry between two types of photon interactions–the fact that radiation pressure and electron level changes in atoms are repulsive only, but charged interactions can be attractive or repulsive. I hope you will take a moment to read it–it really is an interesting question. Quantum field theory addresses this issue mathematically, but does not answer why this asymmetry exists.
I will summarize that post as follows: Charge forces can be either attractive or repulsive, but radiation pressure is only observed to be repulsive, away from the emitter. The unitary rotation vector field theory (for which I’ve been writing a simulator) posits that there should be attractive radiation pressure via a new particle, antiphotons. I discussed in that post several other justifications for antiphotons that do not rely on believing in the validity of the unitary rotation vector field approach. These justifications essentially state that charge attraction requires that negative momentum be transported from source to destination via particles or field entities that have no momentum of their own.
The unitary rotation vector field describes specifically how this works, using the premise that electron/photon interactions are exchanges of angular momentum, either negative or positive.
However, there is no experimental evidence for antiphotons other than electrostatic attraction, so I became concerned that this is not the real reason for the force directional asymmetry. This post continues that line of thought with an examination of what the unitary rotation vector field idea says about the two types of photon mediated forces. While the theory does allow for negative momentum carrying particles called antiphotons, further investigation hints that this is not the cause for the force asymmetry. Rather, the two photon interaction forces are fundamentally different–one results from photon angular momentum exchange and the other is caused by quantum interference.
Both forces (charge and radiation pressure/electron level transitions) are said to result from photon exchanges and/or photon creation/annihilator operators. Radiation pressure and atomic electron level shifting clearly result from quantized photon packets and are observed to exchange only positive momentum (i.e., are repulsive forces). Energy is conserved as quantized exchanges in these cases.
Charge is different. There is no momentum or energy exchange. Imagine a single positron surrounded by a vast quantity of electrons in all possible directions. Computing the electrostatic force on each electron includes a full charge attraction contribution from the positron (along with a vast quantity of repulsive contributions from all the other electrons). This thought experiment seems to show that there cannot be energy flow in charged interactions, since there would have to be photon exchanges from the positron to each electron simultaneously, an energy flow that easily could vastly exceed the rest mass energy of the positron.
So what is really going on in charged interactions? One possible answer comes from the unitary rotation vector field theory–it is quantum interference between the source and the destination particles. This theory posits that particles form in a single-valued, unitary magnitude rotation field with a background state in a direction orthogonal to R3, the I dimension. Particles are group wave constructs composed of one or more “poles”, quantized single twist rotations from +I and back again. As a group wave, the particle is defined as a peak amplitude magnitude region and its location can be affected by waves from other sources without an expenditure of energy (for example, the relocation caused by quantum interference in the two-slit experiment). The simplest such particle is the one pole photon, a linearly propagating twist; two pole systems can form closed loops, because the waves from each pole form interference patterns (quantum interference) that reposition the pole location. A single pole photon has been demonstrated (see many previous posts) to momentarily shift–via quantum interference–the location of an intercepting two pole closed loop (an “electron”). I hope you will go back several posts and look at my simulation results that beautifully demonstrate this group wave position shifting behavior:
https://wordpress.com/block-editor/post/agemoz.wordpress.com/1295
In this theory, an answer to the asymmetry of charge force bidirectionality versus observed unidirectional radiation pressure or atomic electron level change emerges. Simulations show that the twist is a stable state that forms R3 waves around it. Radiation pressure energy transfer (exchange of angular momentum) exerts repulsive forces only when a closed loop set of twists intercept a single pole photon. But charge interactions don’t work this way–instead, the spherical wave surrounding the twist photon form an interference pattern just like that of the two pole closed loop. Like other quantum interference scenarios, no energy exchange happens, instead the interference pattern forces the destination particle to exist in a nearby position either toward or away from the source emitter. Both attraction and repulsion are possible depending on the relative phase of the waves to the destination.
Further work here is needed to ensure that charge is relativistically invariant in this model.
So, to summarize what the unitary rotation vector field is telling us–radiation pressure and electron level changes are caused directly by angular momentum exchanges, and the photon is created or destroyed in the process. Charge forces are caused by quantum interference between the source and destination particles and no momentum is exchanged! The two types of forces are both the result of photon characteristics, the former due to the angular momentum of the photon, the latter due to the quantum interference wave pattern radiating from the photon. The unitary rotation vector field shows that antiphotons should be possible, but are not necessary to explain the directional asymmetry of charge and radiation pressure forces.
Agemoz
Tags: physics, quantum, special relativity
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