Virtual Particles Viewed Though Systemic Functional Linguistics

Davies & Gribbin (1992: 136, 139, 140):

One of the more bizarre consequences of quantum uncertainty is that matter can appear out of nowhere. In classical physics, energy is a conserved quantity; that is, it can be neither created nor destroyed, only changed from one form into another. Quantum mechanics permits energy to appear spontaneously from nothing, so long as it disappears again rapidly. Since matter is a form of energy, this provides … for the possibility of particles appearing briefly out of nothing. Such phenomena lead to a profound modification of what we mean by 'empty' space.

Imagine a box from which all particles of matter have been removed. We might think of it as a perfect vacuum — empty space. In fact, the fluctuating quantum energy of the vacuum causes the temporary creation of all manner of 'virtual' particles — particles which exist only fleetingly before fading away again. The apparently inert vacuum is actually a sea of restless activity, full of ghostly particles which appear, interact and vanish. And this applies whether or not the box is emptied of all 'permanent' matter — the same restless vacuum activity goes on all around us, including in the space between atoms in ordinary matter. …

 The only thing that prevents the virtual particles taking on a real, permanent life is lack of energy. The inherent uncertainty of the quantum world allows them to appear for a short time, without the Universe budgeting for the discrepancy. But the fluctuation cannot be sustained indefinitely, and on longer time-scales the energy books must be kept in balance. Real particles can be created in a similar fashion only by supplying a large enough source of energy. … Virtual particles from the vacuum could be directly promoted into permanent reality if enough energy were available.

 

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, the 'restless activity' of brief spontaneous appearances of energy or matter ('ghostly particles') 'from nothing' 'out of nowhere' is the instantiation of potential.

From the same perspective, a particle is the medium through which a process unfolds, and as previously explained, energy is the ability of a process to unfold.

The duration of a process, mediated by a particle, virtual or real, thus varies with the ability of the process to unfold, and this ability varies according to the probabilities of the potential that each process instantiates.