Do Virtual Photons Exist?

By H.E. Retic ONLY E mail address is

The Aether was original conceived as a means of explaining "forces acting
at a distance" (i.e.- electric, magnetic, gravitation, et al). When the idea of
the classical Aether was abandoned early in the century, there was a need to
find another means of explaining these forces because, if it were not possible
to explain them by some other means then it would be necessary to retain the
Aether and the absolute reference frame it represented. The elimination of that
reference frame was an absolute imperative of the political agenda of the
academic community. Fortunately, the advent of quantum theory allowed Dr.
Feynmann to generate the idea that these forces were produced by the exchange
of "virtual particles". These particles were so named because they popped into
and out of existence for periods of time that were so short that the rules of
quantum physics insured that their temporary existence did not violate the Law
of Conservation of Energy.

It is easy to understand how these particles could provide a force over a
distance. A "virtual particle" emitted from one point would absorb momentum and
travel ballistically to another where it would release that momentum. The net
result would be force acting between the points. The situation is analogous to
the effect observed when two athletes throw a medicine ball back and forth to
each other. Difficulty with the analogy is that the throwing of the medicine
ball can only produce a repulsive force; it cannot produce an attractive force!
The mathematics associated with the force production by "virtual particles"
particles, however, does allow for the production of attractive forces, but,
since no explanation as to how this is possible is provided, one is left with
the suspicion that this is another example of a solution where an effect that
is allowed by the mathematics involved is being used outside of the constraints
imposed by the physical realities of the problem. These realities require a
rather unusual exchange of momentum to be involved. In order to produce the
attractive force, the "virtual photon" would have to be launched with a
momentum represented by a propagation direction away from its target, reverse
its momentum (direction of travel), go past its target and repeat the process
so as to acquire a momentum in the required direction as it struck the target
from behind. (If anyone can provide a different explanation I would like to
hear it.) Of course, if the "virtual photon" were propagating through a medium,
such as the Aether, there would be no conceptual problem, the "virtual particle
could make the necessary exchange of momentum with the medium. (A boomerang
returns to the thrower because it exchanges momentum with a medium, air. But
then, if the Aether were present we would have no need to consider the
existence of "virtual photons".

There is no need to resort to theoretical arguments, however. If virtual
photons produce electric and magnetic forces, they should be observable.
Consider a large electromagnet, such as is used in an MIR machine. A recent
news report described an unfortunate incident where a steel oxygen bottle was
not properly mounted to its wall bracket. The magnetic field of the MIR pulled
the bottle to the machine and killed a boy who was being scanned. It is obvious
that the room was filled with a large and extremely powerful magnetic field. If
"virtual photons" were present in that room, they would have produced a level
of electromagnetic interference that would scream their presence. If electric
and magnetic forces were produced by "virtual photons", they would have to also
effect any electromagnetic detectors in their vicinity and one would expect
that both natural and man-made electric and magnetic fields would render
electromagnetic communication impossible.

An experiment is described in Chapter 4 of "The Einstein Hoax" in which a
strong electric field is produced inside of an evacuated chamber and an antenna
is located between the electrodes. Using a radiation detector that covers the
entire spectrum would allow the detection of any spurious photons that acted to
produce the attractive force. Its a simple experiment and is one which should
be performed it science is to accept "virtual photons" as meaningful.

The concept of "virtual particles" is perhaps best understood by
considering the stability of a moving bicycle. A moving bicycle remains upright
because of the effect of "virtual displacements" of its front wheel. In a
bicycle, the point of intersection of the axis of steering intersects the road
well ahead of the point of contact of the tire with the road. As a result, if
the bicycle develops a "lean", a torque exists which acts to turn the front
wheel in the direction of the lean. This, in turn causes the bicycle to turn
towards the lean and results in a centrifugal force which returns the bicycle
to vertical. Similarly if the front wheel is turned without an accompanying
tilt of the bicycle, the caster action of the front wheel geometry produces a
strong torque to return the wheel to the straight ahead position. As any
experienced bike rider knows, this latter effect is strong, the handlebars of a
speeding bicycle are surprising difficult to turn to the point where steering
is accomplished by leaning.

In steady state riding, observable disturbances are not needed to maintain
stability. The fact that the forces would occur if an error occurred is enough
to prevent the occurrence of the error. (Obviously for the corrections to be
made, minute errors must be occurring. These errors would legitimately be
termed "virtual displacements".) While these "virtual displacements" account
for the bicycles stability, the forces they involve are much too small to
account for the bicycles resistance to falling. Those forces can only be
provides by the forces of gravity and of turning. One might expect "virtual
photons" to act in the same way. They cannot produce the electric, magnetic,
and/or electromagnetic forces we experience, but they can cause these forces,
where they are in balance, to remain in balance. To produce the forces
themselves, a much more powerful effect is required. The same should be true of
gravitic forces, gravitons cannot produce the attractive gravity forces we
observe, but they can act to moderate their action. It would seem that the only
means by which these forces could act is through a medium (i.e.- the classical
Aether).

The source material for this posting may be found in "Gravity" (1987),
"The Einstein Hoax" (1997), and "Corrections to Residual Errors in Special
Relativity (1999) located at http://www.members.aol.com/einsteinhoax/site.htm .
EVERYTHING WHICH WE ACCEPT AS TRUE MUST BE CONSISTENT WITH EVERYTHING ELSE WE
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BE MATHEMATICALLY VIABLE. PRESENT TEACHINGS DO NOT ALWAYS MEET THIS
REQUIREMENT. THE WORLD IS ENTITLED TO A HIGHER STANDARD OF WORKMANSHIP FROM
THOSE IT HAS GRANTED WORLD CLASS STATUS.

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