Nov 05 2013
Pile Ups
When studying quantum field theory, we come across an array of virtual particles. For more than three years I have been studying quantum field theory, and falling back on quantum mechanics for weeks or months at a time in the duration.
A while back it was stated that the static we typically see in Goldhaber plots generated from hadron colliding experiments may in part be due to a cascade of momentum generated through the gravitational field. Continuing then with the same logic, when there is a pile up of colliding particles at one of the world’s particle accelerators, there is also a pile up of gravitons in the midst of the chaos, which then periodically spring back into action while helping to accelerate fragments of particles in various directions. There is also a down scattering in energy of gravitons for some that are involved, mainly due to the fact that synchronization at the boundary of a hadron can be lost at such a time. Detectors situated at various polar angles wait for the differential cross section results.
It is not unreasonable when enough experimentation is done that some results are repeatable. “If m represents the rest mass of the exchanged particle, then a virtual particle can be created and exist for a time t without violating conservation of energy, as long as t is no greater than what is permitted by the uncertainty relationship: ћ/mc2.” * Still, it is a relief to know that conservation of energy is not violated. Gravitons piling up provide the excess energy that is needed.
* Krane, Kenneth, Introductory Nuclear Physics, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1988, pg 654
I read it Kevin, wish I understood it more! Interesting tho
Thanks Brad, for pushing me to get going again. Can’t guarantee a pace though. Sometimes it just feels like a finished work.
I’m a big fan of NASA’s astronomy picture of the day site, and today’s image is compiled from Fermi telescope images.
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap131206.html
Cool :)
The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has been gathering data for more than five years. From time to time I have looked for what they are seeing from the earth by Google searching “gamma ray earth”. Had not done that in quite a while so this is a really good find, and something I have been waiting for.
Reading the “Explanation”, it is an all sky image mapped onto a flat. Yellowish hues in the image represent the high intensities. Key wording here is “on a logarithmic scale”.
It says that “Earth is actually the brightest source of gamma-rays”. Of course this is so, or the telescope would not stay in orbit around the earth. The main thing they get wrong is the same old story about cosmic ray bombardment upon the atmosphere causing the phenomenon, just like in the 1990’s with EGRET and the moon. While there is indeed cosmic ray bombardment, the main cause is gravity.
If you click on “Gamma-rays from Earth” it goes to: http://arxiv.org/abs/0912.1868, a 9 Dec 2009 Cornell University abstract that confirms that the gamma ray earth is outputting at > 100 MeV, which would include gravity at 313 MeV. Downloading the pdf of the Cornell paper: “Fermi Large Area Telescope Observations of the Cosmic-Ray Induced γ-ray Emission of the Earth’s Atmosphere”, we see in the Introduction that “the Earth is the brightest source in the sky due to its proximity”. In figure 1 on page 5, the lower left image is 200 MeV – 1 GeV, the one to look at for gravity. I suppose there is a void in the middle due to it being the highest intensity, like when EGRET’s anti coincidence shield prevented readings. Figure 4 is interesting as well; the intensity for 0.2 – 1 GeV at low nadir angles is orders of magnitude higher than the other graphs that do not include gravity.
I suppose if an APOD showed a gamma ray image of just the earth, it would be a yellow ball with a void in the middle.