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The conventional answer is that all electrons are the same because they are all local excited states of a single quantized field (the electron field). So we jus
by nilkn 2y ago
The conventional answer is that all electrons are the same because they are all local excited states of a single quantized field (the electron field). So we just have to shift perspective from "there's only one electron" to "there's only one electron field".
- kazinator 2y agoThat's about as useful as "there is only one complex plane no matter how many regions and functions we work with".
- nilkn 2y agoNo, it’s a legitimate answer to why all electrons have the same properties. This is the real answer according to our best modern theories of particle physics. It explains why all elementary particles appear to have fixed sets of properties.
- deely3 2y agoIf its possible, can you explain please why electron only? What about other particles?
- GoblinSlayer 2y agoAll particles are like that.
- deely3 2y agoThen why article is about electron only?
- GoblinSlayer 2y agoWhat's true about all particles is also true about electron. There's also the myth that not all particles are equal.
- sidewndr46 2y agoMaybe I don't follow the consequence of your statement, but isn't the photon quite different from an electron? It has no mass & has no anti particle that we can identify. It's also an elementary particle that doesn't get combined like quarks to make the proton
- GoblinSlayer 2y agoThat's the myth I refer to. Antiphoton exists, it's just symmetric enough and the same as photon.
- BlueTemplar 2y agoIt isn't. > Electrons, like other elementary particles, are indistinguishable from each other. They are the same article.
- gipp 2y agoNo it's more like saying it's all just different regions of a single function. Individual electrons are just regions of that function that have particular recurring kinds of structure to them
- phkahler 2y agoBut this explanation has nothing to do with fields. It is the idea that all the electrons are literally the same particle.
- nilkn 2y agoAnd that idea is wrong. It was never accepted, not even by Feynman. The field explanation is the one used by the Standard Model. I’m providing the best known real answer for anyone curious after reading the article.