Question on Weak Nuclear Force

[TJ.]

We know that the weak nuclear force has two charged bosons: W+ and W-

All charges give out photons (bosons of EM force)

 

So do the charged bosons of the weak nuclear force emit its own bosons?

 

Im new to this concept. Please provide an elaborate explanation...

[timo]

In terms of elementary particles it's probably better to say that charged particles interact with photons, rather than saying they "give out" photons. The W-Bosons indeed interact with photons. However, note that W-Bosons practically do not exist in nature naturally, and rapidly decay into other particles.

[TJ.]

Thnx for your reply!

 

But dont charged objects emit bosons? Furthermore, when an electron is bound by exchanging photons with te nucleus... Are these photons detectable?

[swansont]

No, virtual photons are not independently detectable.

[timo]

Charged particles are affected by the electromagnetic field. At the same time, they also affect the electromagnetic field. This is how electromagnetic interaction between two particles works (either influences the electromagnetic field which in turn is "felt" by the other). Now, for bringing photons into the picture, there's two ways:

 

1) Without Quantum Field Theory, the electromagnetic field can, in some respect, be described as consisting of photons. The problem is that strictly speaking the influence of a charge on the electromagnetic field is exactly the part that is not described in terms of photons (namely the inhomogeneous part of the solution, for those who know differential equations).

 

2) In Quantum Field Theory, an interaction between two charged particles that is only for a short time can be expressed in terms of objects defined during the interaction-less time (at least initially, I am not sure to what extent renormalization possibly allows defining interacting states). These expressions do indeed look like as if the charged particles sent photons between them. However, I am a bit reserved to go beyond "looks like". Also, for an electron bound to a nucleus, the interaction is not short time but permanent. I am not sure this "exchange photons" view holds for bound states. I am not even sure that a known treatment of bound states from first principles exists.

 

That said, even among those embracing the idea of charged particles exchanging photons with each other, I think it is agreed upon that those "photons" cannot be directly detected.