tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7315236707728759521.post7272790899226637022..comments2024-03-28T21:52:52.100-06:00Comments on Dispatches From Turtle Island: Random Physics ThoughtsAndrew Oh-Willekehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02537151821869153861noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7315236707728759521.post-35980816991160005672014-01-10T17:56:41.122-07:002014-01-10T17:56:41.122-07:00On a serious note:
I have loads of similar questio...On a serious note:<br />I have loads of similar questions. Here's my best attempt at answering only some of your questions.<br /><br />(1) The force carriers (photons, W+, W-, Z, and the 8 gluons) are virtual particles. If they have an energy of deltaE, then they can last for a time less than h/deltaE, where h is Planck's constant. As virtual particles, there's no way one could conserve force-carrier-boson-number.<br /><br />(2) The force carriers don't have anti-particles. There's no anti-particle to the photon, and the 8 gluons don't have anti-particles. W+ is not the antiparticle of W-. In the complex plane, think of Z as (1,0), W+ as (-0.5,0.87), and W- as (-0.5,-0.87), i.e. unit vectors with 0deg, 120deg, and 240deg. <br /><br />(3) The best way I can think about explaining the force carriers is the following: the force carriers are the wrinkles that radiate out in space-time when you twist the fabric of space-time at a discrete point (i.e. where there's a fermion.) You can visualize the effect of an electrically charged particle by making a twist in the center of a napkin or a tablecloth. The wrinkles that radiate out are like the photons. It's harder to visualize the W/Z particles because the wrinkle in space-time is not symmetric in each directions and you need more than 2 dimensions to visualize.<br /><br />(4) You raise an excellent point that a sterile neutrino should be almost massless. The rule of thumb is that the more means of force interaction, the heavier the particle. Quarks are heavier than electrons, which are heavier than left-handed neutrinos. Quarks can interact with all of the 4 forces, electrons with 3, and left-handed neutrinos with 2. Right handed neutrinos can only act with 1 force. Following this line of thinking, a particle like a sterile neutrino should be less massive than neutrinos, and that means extremely light.<br /><br />(5) This would imply that the 'dark matter' candidate with ~2-8 keV would have to be a mu or tau neutrino of the left handed kind...or some particle that is not predicted by the SM. Not a (likely) nearly massless sterile neutrino.<br /><br />(6) The matter / anti-matter distinction is tough, as you mentioned. But it's possible that the universe is predominantly anti-matter neutrinos. If dark matter is left-handed mu or tau anti-neutrinos, then most of the (non-dark-energy) universe is anti-matter neutrinos followed by matter quarks and electrons. The distinction is likely arbitrary; however, I'm not 100% sure because physicists used to think that there's no way to tell left from right in the universe until the ~1950s/60s.<br /><br />Keep asking these questions because I don't see enough people doing this these days.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7315236707728759521.post-72331282849366815632014-01-09T13:34:31.975-07:002014-01-09T13:34:31.975-07:00Sorry, but the whole physics as con law analogy ju...Sorry, but the whole physics as con law analogy just doesn't do it for me. Save analogies for instances that are vaguely analogous in some more essential way. I have no idea what you are talking about and after reading that, I am disinclined to learn more.andrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08172964121659914379noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7315236707728759521.post-73465630443758859412014-01-09T00:03:06.744-07:002014-01-09T00:03:06.744-07:00@Andrew:
You have hit two very important issues fo...@Andrew:<br />You have hit two very important issues for the advancement on going beyond the Standard Model.<br />1. The arbitrariness of naming the matter over the anti-matter.<br />2. Why the fermion numbers are conserved while the boson numbers are not.<br /><br />By resolving these two issues, most of the unresolved issues in physics will be resolved.<br /><br />For the issue one: in the G-string physics, the M-string can produce 8 G-strings, but they alone cannot produce the ‘known’ matter particles, such as proton and neutron. An anti-M-string is needed for producing 8 anti-G-strings. And, proton is composited of parts from both the M-string and anti-M-string. That is, the anti-matter is not the mirror-like symmetry partner of matter but is complimentary partner of matter. See “BaryonGenesis, the master-key of all mysteries (http://prebabel.blogspot.com/2013/12/baryongenesis-master-key-of-all.html )” for details.<br /><br />For the issue two: the whole thing is about how to divide the ‘pie’. For the American constitution, that pie is divided into three parts. Then, the numbers of courts is defined by the constitution (the system) while the numbers of plaintiff has no restriction. For the universe, its pie is divided into two parts, the ocean (dark energy) and the land-‘mass’-continent. This land-‘mass’-continent is further divided into 48 ‘dominions’ (48 fermion particles) with ‘equal’ share while the manifested fermion particles are only the name tag (or pimple) for the dominion. That is, only fermions have the right to share the land-‘mass’-continent while the ‘bosons’ are the servants (similar to the plaintiffs in the court system) which are already counted in their masters’ dominions. With this way of pie-sharing, not only the issue of boson numbers is resolved but the dark mass mystery is also no more. See “Dark matter, mystery no more, part 2! (http://prebabel.blogspot.com/2013/08/dark-matter-mystery-no-more-part-2.html )”.<br />Tienzenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05842156512465678309noreply@blogger.com