Timeline for How can a pion have a mass, given it's a "field mediator" and created/destroyed continuously?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
5 events
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| Jul 5, 2012 at 20:43 | comment | added | Christoph | @Cray: the hand-wavy argument is that because of uncertainty, anything goes as long as the action doesn't exceed $\hbar$ | |
| Jul 5, 2012 at 20:38 | comment | added | Cray | So widely used approximation is one that assumes creation/destruction of mass/energy? Despite the energy conservation principle? That's the part I don't get, how can we say that any field mediators (ie, particles that are created all the time I guess?) can have mass, if that contradicts the energy conservation? | |
| Jul 5, 2012 at 20:28 | comment | added | dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten | @AlanSE Yeah, heavy carriers introduce range limits, and the pion mass is more or less responsible for the range of the inter-nucleon force. As I say the pion exchange model is a good effective theory. | |
| Jul 5, 2012 at 20:25 | comment | added | Alan Rominger | I thought that force particles could be massive (because they're only virtual anyway) but only under the condition that the force is limited in range. Does that make any sense? | |
| Jul 5, 2012 at 20:22 | history | answered | dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten | CC BY-SA 3.0 |