In order to fully understand the writer’s ideas about the existence of a basic particle, it will be necessary to begin by examining the nature of the quantum mechanical wave function. The writer suggests that the default state of a quantum mechanical wave when reduced, some scientists use the term collapsed, tends to form an electromagnetic wave. Reduction is a term used to describe the change from potential to actual, from virtual to real, from quantum to classical.
Although it may be an unfortunate choice of a word, the term virtual does not mean that it is not real. Virtual particles have a well established role in Physics and the force they exert, the Casimir force, has been clearly demonstrated in several scientific experiments. For example: two plates placed very close together in a vacuum exclude any larger virtual particles that will not fit between them. As a result of this exclusion the pressure produced by the particles outside of the gap is greater than the pressure within the gap and a measurable force is produced which attempts to equalise this pressure difference by pushing the plates together. Virtual particles are real in the sense that they exert a measurable force albeit a very small one and therefore not easy to detect.
According to the writer, the quantum mechanical wave may also be considered as a pulse of virtual particles that emanates from every object in the universe. By way of illustration the writer draws attention to the duality of the phonon (virtual electron) and quantum electrical waves, with obvious parallels to the particle/wave duality of light. The usual model of electrical conduction along a copper wire involves the idea that electrons flow along the wire due to a potential difference, or voltage, being applied across its ends. This movement of actual particles appears not to be tenable on the basis that the friction caused by the speed of movement of these particles, about half the speed of light, would be sufficient to completely melt the copper, or indeed any other type of wire conductor currently known to man. Instead of relying entirely on the movement of actual electrons, the conduction of electricity appears to involve quantum mechanical waves and quantum particles called phonons. Some movement of electrons along the surface of the conductor follows this primary quantum mechanical process, giving rise to the concepts of conductivity and resistance. Electrical waves could be considered as a pulse of phonons in a similar way in which the writer considers all quantum mechanical waves to consist of a pulse of virtual particles.
According to the writer, the quantum mechanical wave function represents the total information, classically measured as mass, charge; spin etc, about any object. Virtual particles have the potential to reduce, or collapse and change into classical particles and become a classical object. This helps to explain why small particles such as electrons appear to jump from one level to another, do not appear at intermediate levels, around the nucleus of the atom. Macro particles and every day objects are calculated to have quantum waves of an extremely short wavelength currently well below the scale measurable by scientific instruments. This ultra short wavelength probably precludes the quantum transportation of large objects as the quantum waves tend to collapse very quickly and the distances over which they could theoretically travel, under normal conditions of human experience, would be immeasurably small.
The pulse of virtual particles is theoretically capable of instantaneous travel from any point in the universe to any other. However, an equation developed by de Broglie in 1923, indicates that the velocity of travel between any two points depends on the relative speed of closure (or separation) of the frames of reference wherein the points are located. If the frames of reference are not moving relative to each other then instantaneous communication between the two points is possible. The term communication is used here to emphasize the ontological and epistemological significance of the model presented by the writer, which he has named the electromagnetic wave model, EMW.
The electromagnetic wave model suggests that the wave function contains all possible information about a single particle such as an electron, or indeed that of an object consisting of many particles. Because of the extreme smallness of electrons (suggested size 10 -55 cm), they are subject to substantial randomness when it comes to fixing their position and momentum. This degree of randomness is determined by what scientists refer to as the Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle. However, with macro particles the degree of uncertainty is very small in comparison to the uncertainty surrounding electrons.
Based on a formula developed by de Broglie, the velocity of the quantum mechanical wave function between electrons would be superluminal, even though the separation speed of two paired electrons when moving apart could be up to 50% of the speed of light. The velocity of quantum communication between two macro objects, such as spaceships, planets or galaxies moving awayfrom each other at relatively slower speeds, could be 10 8 (one hundred million) times the speed of light, or even higher. With all particles, the wavelength and the frequency of the quantum mechanical wave may also be calculated using a combination of de Broglie and Einstein (please refer to another article by the writer regarding time).
The idea that all the apparent diversity of subatomic particles can be simplified to just one basic particle may at first sound absurd. Can all the evidence produced from giant particle accelerators, costing billions of $, possibly be wrong? Well in a way it is quite valid to consider the existence of a multitude of different particles as there is solid mathematical and experimental evidence for their existence. EMW emphasizes the basic energy matter relationship developed by Einstein, e = mc2 , means all of these particles are made of the same stuff, energy. It seems reasonable therefore to take the relatively stable energy configuration represented by the electron as the basic particle and consider everything else as being derived from the electron.
One of the possible benefits of such simplification arises from our ability to explain the quantum classical connection in terms of one particle, the electron. The concept of an electron having a quantum end and a classical end may also sound a little strange at first. However, energy transfers observed within classical phenomena such as cyclones may help to visualize the subatomic events that link energy changes within the quantum realm to those within the classical realm. Spiralling air currents convert energy to movement on a very large scale within cyclones, large enough to be seen from outer space.
It may also be helpful to consider the analogy of a variably coiled spring, tightly coiled to a point at one end and then more loosely coiled at the open end. The point of the spring remains at the quantum/classical interface, the open end may be located in the classical realm (electron), or in the quantum realm (phonon). Discovering the mechanism that flips the virtual into the classical is an exciting prospect. Could it be our consciousness?
If there is a basic particle, the writer would strongly suggest that the electron is the most likely candidate. However, there are always more and more exciting events happening in the realm of particle physics which could change our ideas overnight.
