Lack of magnetic force shielding by polarised virtual shells around electron core
Normally a conducting shell will shield a magnetic force. However, in the case of the polarised virtual particle shells surrounding the electron bare core, this may not happen because of aligning of the spin axis. We have to remember that pairs of virtual particles are involved. How do they align? If the core magnetism is being attenuated by the 137 factor due to the polarised veil of virtual particles (which I do not think likely), then this would imply an opposite interpretation of the 1/(2.Pi.137) Schwinger correction to Dirac's 1 Bohr magneton for the magnetic moment of the electron, with the 1 being due to the magnetism of the paired virtual particle in the veil and the small and the small 0.00116 addition being the core factor. However, then we have the problem of how to interpret the additional Feynman couplings for other possibilities, which becomes more difficult.
So I think we need to check out a model as suggested below, in which the magnetism of the core of the electron shines through the veil without attenuation. This if correct implies that the veil of polarised virtual particles are aligned radially with their spin axes such that they don't screen the magnetic field, and only attenuate the electric field by the 137 factor.
posted by nige @ 6:03 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
An alternative, more impressive way to justify the fact that virtual charges in the vacuum don't attenuate the magnetic field from the core of the electron is as follows:
The vacuum is full of virtual particles but doesn't normally attenuate magnetic fields, which simply fall off in strength by divergence from the poles as the field lines spread out over greater areas with distance.
Polarising the virtual particles in teh vacuum does not affect this ability of the magnetic field to penetrate the vacuum, since the radial (outward or inward) electric field lines created by charge polarisation are parallel to the magnetic field lines from the poles of the electron core.
We can therefore be certain that the 1 + 1/(2.Pi.137) = 1.00116 Bohr magnetons formula from Dirac and Schwinger (1st correction coupling diagram of Feynman) means that the first term, 1 Bohr magneton, is the core charge of the electron within the polarised virtual shield (which cuts out 99.27 % or whatever of the core's electric field strength, but not its magnetic field strength), and the 1/(2.Pi.137) factor relates to a virtual particle coupling which is 137 times weaker because of teh electric field attenuation (since the electric field is what allows the polarisation and coupling)...
Still no response from Dr Lubos Motl to my comment at http://motls.blogspot.com/2005/10/loops-2005.html :
Nigel said...
Dear Lumo,
Thank you very much for these comments, it is useful as always to hear your insights, whether they are right or otherwise.
I don't know what is going on at the 'Not Even Wrong' blog. There was a comment on the latest thread by someone called Bryan, asking Lee Smolin whether the work on QFT being discussed got into causal non-perturbative mechanisms.
The post has now been removed by Peter. It said something like this:
1. The virtual charge of the vacuum surrounding the 'electron core' is polarised, attenuating the core charge by a factor of 137 when seen from a big distance.
2. The Dirac solution for the magnetic moment of the electron, defined as 1 Bohr magneton, refers to this core charge.
3. The Schwinger-Feynman first corrective coupling adds on a factor of 1/(twice pi times 137) giving 1.00116 Bohr magnetons, accurate to 6 significant figures (you need to take account of more couplings for greater accuracy).
4. This addition of 1/(2.Pi.137) arises as follows. The virtual charges appear at a distance and at any one time, one virtual charge, say a virtual positron (which will be polarised slightly nearer the core than virtual electrons, due to electric attraction), associates with the real electron core. This association is presumably the Pauli exclusion principle. The virtual electron and real electron core are both spinning and orbiting (before the virtual electron annihilates with a virtual positron).
5. Because of the orbit and two spins (this is the vague bit), the magnetism of the virtual charge adds only 1/(2.Pi) to the magnetism of the core (dipole moment of electron). In addition, there is a shielding factor of 137.
6. The 137 shielding factor occurs because although magnetism is not attenuated by the polarised vacuum, the electric field is, and it is the electric field which is responsible for the polarisation of the vacuum, in turn resulting in the first coupling correction.
This is quite a long explanation, but it is probably not entirely incorrect. The advantage of following this up may be the removal of renormalisation and generally obscure QFT mathematics, tidying up and ending in a unified theory of electricity and strong nuclear force.
Because the electrostatic force of the fundamental particle cores is reduced by a 137 factor by the veil of polarised charge surrounding them, the core electrostatic force strength is equal in magnitude to the strong nuclear force!
I can cite various research reports documenting this effect in high energy physics, for example experiments by Koltick and others in 1997 (P.R.L. paper) where the smashed electrons into positrons and observed a smaller coupling constant (I think 127 instead of 137) due to the partial penetration of the shield of polarised virtual charge around the core of the electron.
Do you think that this quantum foam stuff should be endlessly ignored as bordering heresy on ether crackpotism, or do you agree that it is interesting to try to find a model for spacetime fabric which may allow us to calculate QFT without renormalisation?
Best wishes,
Nigel
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