Quantum Theory Through Systemic Functional Linguistics [9]

Gribbin (1990: 196):

The photons exist only for a tiny fraction of a second, less than 10⁻¹⁵ sec, but they are popping in and out of existence around the electrons all the time.  It is as if each electron is surrounded by a cloud of "virtual" photons, which only need a little push, a little energy from outside, to escape and become real.  An electron moving from an excited state to a lower state in the atom gives the excess energy to one of its virtual photons and lets it fly free; an electron absorbing energy traps a free photon.  And the same sort of process provides the glue which holds the nucleus together.

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic theory, the "cloud of virtual photons" is a construal of experience as physical potential.  The "popping into existence" of each "real" photon is an instantiation of that potential.  The "popping out of existence" of each "real" photon indicates a change in the physical potential — a change of what can be instantiated physically — as a result of the particle interactions.