Electromagnetic interaction of particles

This article will consider what is called the forces of nature - the fundamental electromagnetic interaction and the principles on which it is built. Also, we will talk about the possibilities of the existence of new approaches to the study of this topic. Even at school in physics lessons, students are faced with the explanation of the concept of "power". They learn that forces can be the most diverse - the force of friction, the force of attraction, the force of elasticity and so on. Not all of them can be called fundamental, because very often the phenomenon of force is secondary (frictional force, for example, with its interaction of molecules). Electromagnetic interaction can also be secondary, as a consequence. Molecular physics cites the van der Waals force as an example. A lot of examples are given also by the physics of elementary particles.

In nature

I would like to get to the core of the processes that take place in nature, when it forces the electromagnetic interaction to work. What exactly is the fundamental force that determines all the secondary forces that it built? Everyone knows that the electromagnetic interaction, or, as it is called, electric forces, is fundamental. This is indicated by the Coulomb law, which has its own generalization, which follows from Maxwell's equations. The latter describe all the magnetic and electrical forces that exist in nature. That is why it is proved that the interaction of electromagnetic fields is the fundamental forces of nature. The next example is the force of gravity. Even schoolchildren are aware of the law of universal gravitation of Isaac Newton, who also recently obtained his own generalization by Einstein's equations, and, according to his theory of gravitation, this force of electromagnetic interaction in nature is also fundamental.

Once upon a time it was believed that there were only two of these fundamental forces, but science was moving forward, gradually proving that this was not the case at all. For example, with the discovery of the atomic nucleus it was necessary to introduce the concept of nuclear force, otherwise how to understand the principle of retaining particles inside the nucleus, why they do not fly away in different directions. Understanding how electromagnetic interaction works in nature helped to measure nuclear forces, to study and describe. However, later scientists came to the conclusion that nuclear forces are secondary, and in many ways resembled van der Waals forces. In fact, only the forces that quarks provide, interacting with each other, are really fundamental. Then, a secondary effect is the interaction of electromagnetic fields between neutrons and protons in the nucleus. Truly fundamental is the interaction of quarks, which exchange gluons. Thus, a third truly fundamental force was discovered in nature.

Continuation of this story

Elementary particles decay, heavy - to lighter, and their decay describes a new force of electromagnetic interaction, which is called - the power of weak interaction. Why weak? Yes, because the electromagnetic interaction in nature is much stronger. And again it turned out that this theory of weak interaction, so harmoniously getting into the picture of the world and originally perfectly describing the decays of elementary particles, did not reflect the same postulates, if the energy was rising. So the old theory was reworked into another - the theory of weak interaction, this time turned out to be universal. Although it was built on the same principles as other theories describing the electromagnetic interaction of particles. In modern times, there are four studied and proven fundamental interactions, and the fifth - on the way, it will be discussed ahead. All four - gravitational, strong, weak, electromagnetic - are built on a single principle: the force that arises between particles is the result of some kind of exchange carried out by the carrier, or otherwise - an intermediary of interaction.

What kind of helper is this? This is a photon - a particle without mass, but nevertheless successfully arranging the electromagnetic interaction due to the exchange of a quantum of electromagnetic waves or a quantum of light. Electromagnetic interaction is carried out by means of photons in the field of charged particles, which communicate with a certain force, and this is precisely what Coulomb's law treats. There is another massless particle - gluon, it exists in eight varieties, it helps to communicate quarks. This electromagnetic interaction is an attraction between charges, and it is called strong. And weak interaction can not do without intermediaries, which became particles with mass, moreover, they are massive, that is, heavy. These are intermediate vector bosons. Their mass and weight explains the weakness of the interaction. Gravitational force produces an exchange of quanta of the gravitational field. This electromagnetic interaction is an attraction of particles, it has not been studied enough yet, graviton has not even been detected experimentally yet, and quantum gravity is not completely perceived by us, which is why we can not describe it yet.

Fifth Power

We examined four types of fundamental interaction: strong, weak, electromagnetic, gravitational. Interaction is an act of particle exchange, and there is no way to do without the concept of symmetry, since there is no interaction that is not connected with it. It determines the number of particles and their mass. With exact symmetry, the mass is always zero. So, for a photon and a gluon there is no mass, it is zero, for a graviton - too. And if the symmetry is violated, the mass of zero will cease. Thus, the intermediate vector bisons have a mass, because the symmetry is broken. These four fundamental interactions explain everything that we see and feel. The rest of the forces indicate that their electromagnetic interaction is secondary. However, in 2012 there was a breakthrough in science and another particle was discovered that immediately became famous. The revolution in the scientific world was organized by the discovery of the Higgs boson, which, as it turned out, also serves as a carrier of interactions between leptons and quarks.

That is why physicists now say that a fifth force appeared, mediated by a Higgs boson. Symmetry is also violated here: the Higgs boson has a mass. Thus, the number of interactions (this word in modern particle physics is replaced by the word "force") has reached five. Perhaps, we are waiting for new discoveries, because we do not exactly know if there are more interactions besides these. It is very possible that the model we are currently considering, which seems to be perfectly explaining all the phenomena observed in the world, is not entirely complete. And it is possible that after a while new interactions or new forces will appear. Such a probability exists, if only because we have gradually learned that there are fundamental interactions known today-strong, weak, electromagnetic, and gravitational. After all, if there are in nature supersymmetric particles, which are already spoken in the scientific world, this means the existence of a new symmetry, and symmetry always entails the appearance of new particles, intermediaries between them. Thus, we will hear about a previously unknown fundamental force, as once it was surprised to learn that there are, for example, electromagnetic, weak interaction. Our knowledge of our own nature is very incomplete.

Interconnection

The most interesting thing is that any new interaction must necessarily lead to a completely unknown phenomenon. For example, if we did not learn about the weak interaction, we would never have discovered a decay, and if there was not in our knowledge of decay, no study of the nuclear reaction would be possible. And if we did not know the nuclear reactions, we would not understand how the sun shines for us. After all, if it were not a light, and life on Earth would not have formed. So the presence of interaction suggests that this is vitally important. If there was no strong interaction, and there would be no stable atomic nuclei. Thanks to the electromagnetic interaction, the Earth receives energy from the Sun, and the rays of light coming from it warm the planet. And all interactions known to us are absolutely necessary. Here is the Higgs, for example. The Higgs boson provides the particle with mass through interaction with the field, without it we would not have survived. And how can we stay on the surface of the planet without gravitational interaction? It would be impossible not only for us, but for nothing at all.

Absolutely all interactions, even those that we do not know yet, are a necessity for everything that mankind knows, understands and loves, existed. What can we not know? Yes much. For example, we know that the proton is stable in the nucleus. This stability is very important to us, otherwise there would be no life in the same way. However, experiments indicate that the life of a proton is a time-limited quantity. Long, of course, 10 ³⁴ years. But this means that sooner or later the proton will disintegrate, and for this, some new force, that is, a new interaction, will be needed. Concerning the decay of the proton, there are already theories where a new, much higher degree of symmetry is assumed, hence, a new interaction may well exist, of which we do not know anything yet.

Great Unification

In the unity of nature, the only principle is the construction of all fundamental interactions. Many people have questions about the number of them and the reasons for this particular quantity. There are a great number of versions built here, and they are very different in their conclusions. Explain the presence of just such a number of fundamental interactions in all sorts of ways, but they all end up with a single principle of building evidence. Always the most diverse types of interactions researchers try to combine into one. Therefore, such theories are called theories of the Great Unification. Like a world tree branching: there are a lot of branches, but the trunk is always one.

All because there is an idea that unites all these theories. The root of all known interactions is single, feeding one trunk, which as a result of losing symmetry began to branch and formed various fundamental interactions, which we can observe experimentally. This hypothesis can not yet be verified because it requires physics of incredibly high energies that are inaccessible to the experiments of today. It is also possible that we will never master these energies. But to get around this hindrance is quite possible.

Apart from

We have the Universe, this natural accelerator, and all the processes that occur in it make it possible to test even the boldest hypotheses about the single root of all known interactions. Another interesting task of understanding interactions in nature is, perhaps, even more complicated. It is necessary to understand how gravitation relates to the rest of the forces of nature. This fundamental interaction stands as if separately, despite the fact that, according to the principle of construction, this theory is similar to all others.

Einstein was engaged in the theory of gravitation, trying to connect it with electromagnetism. Despite the seeming reality of solving this problem, the theory did not work out. Now humanity knows a little more, in any case we know about strong and weak interaction. And if we now complete this single theory, then inevitably the lack of knowledge will again be affected. Until now, gravity has not been put on a par with other interactions, since all obey the laws dictated by quantum physics, and gravity does not. According to the quantum theory, all particles are quanta of a certain field. But quantum gravity does not exist, at least for now. However, the number of already open interactions loudly says that there can not be no single scheme.

Electric field

Back in 1860, the great physicist of the nineteenth century, James Maxwell, succeeded in creating a theory explaining electromagnetic induction. When the magnetic field changes over time, an electric field is formed at a certain point in space. And if a closed conductor is found in this field, an induction current appears in the electric field. By his theory of electromagnetic fields Maxwell proves that the reverse process is also probable: if the electric field in a certain point of space is changed in time, a magnetic field will necessarily appear. This means that any change in the time of the magnetic field can be caused by the appearance of a changing electric field, and by changing the electric one one can obtain a varying magnetic field. These variables, generating fields by each other, form a single field - electromagnetic.

The most important result, which follows from the formulas of Maxwell's theory, is the prediction that there are electromagnetic waves, that is, propagating electromagnetic fields in time and space. The source of the electromagnetic field is the electric charges moving with acceleration. Unlike sound (elastic) waves, electromagnetic waves can propagate in any substance, even in a vacuum. The electromagnetic interaction in vacuum propagates with the speed of light (c = 299,792 kilometers per second). The wavelength can be different. Electromagnetic waves from ten thousand meters to 0.005 meters are radio waves that serve us to transmit information, that is signals for a certain distance without any wires. Radio waves are generated by current at high frequencies, which flow in the antenna.

What are the waves

If the wavelength of electromagnetic radiation is from 0.005 meters to 1 micrometer, that is, those that are in the range between radio waves and visible light is infrared radiation. It emits all the heated bodies: batteries, furnaces, incandescent lamps. Special devices convert infrared radiation into visible light to get images of objects emitting it, even in absolute darkness. Visible light emits waves from 770 to 380 nanometers in length - from red to violet. This part of the spectrum has a very great significance for human life, because we receive a huge part of the information about the world with the help of vision.

If the electromagnetic radiation has a wavelength less than the violet color, it is an ultraviolet that kills pathogenic bacteria. X-rays to the eye are not visible. They almost do not absorb layers of matter opaque to visible light. X-ray radiation diagnoses diseases of internal organs of man and animals. If electromagnetic radiation arises from the interaction of elementary particles and is emitted by excited nuclei, gamma radiation is obtained. This is the widest range in the electromagnetic spectrum, because it is not limited to high energies. Gamma radiation can be soft and hard: the energy transitions inside the atomic nuclei are mild, and for nuclear reactions it is rigid. These quanta easily tear down molecules, and biological ones especially. It is a great happiness that gamma radiation can not pass through the atmosphere. Observe gamma quanta can be from space. At ultrahigh energies, the electromagnetic interaction propagates at a speed close to that of light: gamma quanta crush the nuclei of atoms, breaking them into particles that fly apart. When braking, they emit light visible in special telescopes.

From the past to the future

Electromagnetic waves, as already mentioned, are predicted by Maxwell. He carefully studied and tried to believe mathematics slightly naive pictures of Faraday, on which were depicted magnetic and electrical phenomena. It was Maxwell who discovered the lack of symmetry. And it was he who managed to prove by a number of equations that alternating electric fields generate magnetic fields and vice versa. This prompted him to think that such fields break away from the conductors and move through the vacuum at some gigantic speed. And he figured it out. The speed was close to three hundred thousand kilometers per second.

That's how the theory and experiment interact. An example is the discovery, through which we learned about the existence of electromagnetic waves. It combined with the help of physics completely heterogeneous concepts - magnetism and electricity, because this physical phenomenon is of the same order, just its different sides are in interaction. Theories line up one after another, and all of them are closely related to one another: the theory of electroweak interaction, for example, where weak nuclear forces and electromagnetic forces are described from the same positions, then all this is joined by quantum chromodynamics embracing strong and electroweak interactions (here the accuracy While below, but the work continues). Intensively studied are such areas of physics as quantum gravity and string theory.

conclusions

It turns out that the space around us is completely penetrated by electromagnetic radiation: stars and the Sun, the Moon and other celestial bodies, this is the Earth itself, and each telephone in the hands of a man, and the antenna of radio stations - all this emits electromagnetic waves, . Depending on the frequency of the oscillations emitted by the object, infrared radiation, radio waves, visible light, biofield beams, X-rays and the like are different.

When the electromagnetic field spreads, it becomes an electromagnetic wave. This source of energy is just inexhaustible, causing the electric charges of molecules and atoms to oscillate. And if the charge oscillates, its motion gets acceleration, and therefore emits an electromagnetic wave. If the magnetic field changes, a vortex electric field is excited, which, in turn, excites the vortex magnetic field. The process goes through space, spanning one point after another.