Dr Faustus of Modern Physics - Department of Speech, Music and ...

Chapter 19
Quantum Field Magics
19.1 Quantum and Field
The code words of modern physics are
• quantum
• field
which combine into Quantum Field Theory as explained in [14]:
• In the years leading up to 1925 the quantum idea was applied to the mechanics
of atomic motion, which resulted in wave-particle duality
and the Schrödinger equation for electrons.
• In 1950 the electromagnetic field was quantized with quanta called photons,
thus coming a full circle back to Planck and completing a quantization
of a major area of classical physics.
• Now, in a sense, quantization blurs the distinction between particles
and fields; point particles become fuzzy and subject to a wave equation,
and the (electromagnetic) field, classically represented as a continuum,
takes on a particle-like nature (the photon)...which renders the particle
and field rather similar.
• The salinet point is that the photons are the quanta of the fields which
describes the interaction between particles of matter. The electrons
“happen to be there” and because they interact, the electromagnetic field
and photons become compulsory.
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