This article will examine what is called the forces of nature — the fundamental electromagnetic interaction and the principles on which it is built. It will also talk about the possibilities of the existence of new approaches to the study of this topic. Even at school, in physics classes, students are faced with an explanation of the concept of "force". They learn that the forces can be very diverse - the force of friction, the force of gravity, the force of elasticity and many others like that. Not all of them can be called fundamental, since very often the phenomenon of force is secondary (friction force, for example, with its interaction of molecules). Electromagnetic interaction can also be secondary - as a consequence. Molecular physics cites Van der Waals forces as an example. Also many examples are given by particle physics.
In nature
I would like to get to the bottom of the essence of the processes occurring in nature, when it makes electromagnetic interaction work. What exactly is the fundamental force that determines all the secondary forces it has built? Everyone knows that electromagnetic interaction, or, as it is also called, electric forces, is fundamental. This is evidenced by the Coulomb law, which has its own generalization arising from Maxwell's equations. The latter describe all the magnetic and electric forces that exist in nature . That is why it is proved that the interaction of electromagnetic fields is the fundamental force of nature. The next example is gravity. Even schoolchildren are aware of the law of universal gravitation of Isaac Newton, who also recently received his own generalization of Einstein's equations, and, according to his theory of gravitation, this force of electromagnetic interaction in nature is also fundamental.
Once upon a time it was believed that there are only two of these fundamental forces, but science has moved forward, gradually proving that this is not so. For example, with the discovery of the atomic nucleus, the concept of nuclear force had to be introduced, otherwise how to understand the principle of particle retention inside the nucleus, why they do not fly away in different directions. Understanding how electromagnetic interaction in nature works has helped to measure nuclear forces, to study and describe. However, subsequently, scientists came to the conclusion that nuclear forces are secondary and in many manifestations are similar to the forces of Van der Waals. In fact, only the forces that provide quarks interacting with each other are really fundamental. Then, the secondary effect is the interaction of electromagnetic fields between neutrons and protons in the nucleus. Truly fundamental is the interaction of quarks that exchange gluons. Thus, a third truly fundamental force was discovered in nature.
Continuation of this story
Elementary particles decay, heavy ones into lighter ones, and their decay describes a new force of electromagnetic interaction, which is called the force of weak interaction. Why weak? Yes, because the electromagnetic interaction in nature is much stronger. And again, it turned out that this theory of weak interaction, so harmoniously getting into the picture of the world and initially perfectly describing the decays of elementary particles, did not reflect the same postulates if the energy increased. Therefore, the old theory was reworked into another - the theory of weak interaction, this time turned out to be universal. Although it was built on the same principles as other theories that describe the electromagnetic interaction of particles. In modernity, there are four studied and proven fundamental interactions, and the fifth is on the way, we will talk about it in the future. All four - gravitational, strong, weak, electromagnetic - are built on a single principle: the force arising between the particles is the result of some kind of exchange carried out by the carrier, or otherwise - the mediator of interaction.
What kind of assistant is this? This photon is a particle without mass, but nevertheless successfully builds electromagnetic interaction due to the exchange of a quantum of electromagnetic waves or a quantum of light. Electromagnetic interaction is carried out by means of photons in the field of charged particles, which communicate with a certain force, which is exactly what treats the Coulomb law. There is another massless particle - gluon, there are eight varieties of it, it helps quarks communicate. This electromagnetic interaction is an attraction between charges, and it is called strong. Yes, and weak interaction is not complete without intermediaries, which became particles with mass, moreover, they are massive, that is, heavy. These are intermediate vector bosons. Their mass and severity explains the weakness of the interaction. The gravitational force, on the other hand, exchanges a quantum of the gravitational field. This electromagnetic interaction is an attraction of particles, it has not been studied enough yet, graviton has not even been experimentally detected yet, and we do not quite feel quantum gravity, which is why we cannot describe it yet.
Fifth force
We examined four types of fundamental interaction: strong, weak, electromagnetic, gravitational. Interaction is an act of particle exchange, and one cannot do without the concept of symmetry, since there is no interaction that is not connected with it. It determines the number of particles and their mass. With exact symmetry, the mass is always zero. So, the photon and gluon have no mass, it is zero, the graviton too. And if the symmetry is broken, the zero mass ceases to be. So, intermediate vector bison have mass, because the symmetry is broken. These four fundamental interactions explain everything that we see and feel. The remaining forces indicate that their electromagnetic interaction is secondary. However, in 2012 there was a breakthrough in science and another particle was discovered, which immediately became famous. The revolution in the scientific world was organized by the discovery of the Higgs boson, which, as it turned out, also serves as a carrier of interactions between leptons and quarks.
That is why physicists now say that a fifth force has appeared, the Higgs boson was the intermediary of it. The symmetry is broken here: the Higgs boson has mass. Thus, the number of interactions (this word is replaced by the word "force" in modern particle physics) has reached five. Perhaps new discoveries await us, since we do not know exactly if there are any other interactions besides these. It is very possible that the model we have already built and today we are considering, which would seem to perfectly explain all the phenomena observed in the world, is not quite complete. And perhaps, after some time, new interactions or new forces will appear. This probability exists, if only because we very gradually learned that there are currently known fundamental interactions - strong, weak, electromagnetic, gravitational. Indeed, if there are supersymmetric particles in nature that are already being discussed in the scientific world, this means the existence of a new symmetry, and symmetry always entails the appearance of new particles, intermediaries between them. Thus, we will hear about a previously unknown fundamental force, as we once were surprised to learn that, for example, there is an electromagnetic, weak interaction. Our knowledge of our own nature is very incomplete.
Interconnectedness
The most interesting thing is that any new interaction must necessarily lead to a completely unknown phenomenon. For example, if we did not learn about the weak interaction, we would never have discovered decay, and if there had been no decay in our knowledge, no study of the nuclear reaction would have been possible. And if we did not know nuclear reactions, we would not understand how the sun shines for us. After all, if it had not shone, and life on Earth would not have formed. So the presence of interaction suggests that this is vital. If strong interaction did not exist, and atomic nuclei would not be stable. Thanks to the electromagnetic interaction, the Earth receives energy from the Sun, and the rays of light arriving from it warm the planet. And all the interactions we know are absolutely necessary. Here is the Higgs, for example. The Higgs boson provides the particle with mass through interaction with the field; we would not have survived without it. But how can one stay on the planet’s surface without gravitational interaction? This would be impossible not only to us, but to nothing at all.
Absolutely all interactions, even those about which we do not yet know, are necessary in order for all that humanity knows, understands and loves to exist. What can we not know? Yes, a lot. For example, we know that a proton is stable in the nucleus. This stability of him is very, very important to us, otherwise life would not exist in the same way. However, experiments show that the life of a proton is limited in time. Long, of course, 10 34 years. But this means that sooner or later the proton will also decay, and for this some new force will be needed, that is, a new interaction. Concerning proton decay, there already exist theories where a new, much higher degree of symmetry is assumed, which means that a new interaction may well exist, of which we do not yet know anything.
Great unification
In the unity of nature, the only principle of building all fundamental interactions. Many people have questions regarding their number and explanation of the reasons for this quantity. There are a great many versions built here, and they are very different according to the conclusions made. They explain the presence of just such a number of fundamental interactions in every possible way, but they all turn out to be with the single principle of building evidence. Researchers are always trying to combine the most diverse types of interactions into one. Therefore, such theories are called theories of the Great Unification. It’s like a world tree branches: there are many branches, and the trunk is always one.
This is because there is an idea uniting all these theories. The root of all known interactions is the same, feeding one trunk, which, as a result of loss of symmetry, began to branch and formed various fundamental interactions that we can experimentally observe. It is impossible to verify this hypothesis, since it requires physics of incredibly high energies, inaccessible to the experiments of today. It is also very possible that we will never possess these energies. But to get around this obstacle is quite possible.
Apart
We have the Universe, this natural accelerator, and all the processes that take place in it make it possible to test even the most daring hypotheses regarding the single root of all known interactions. Another interesting task of understanding interactions in nature is, perhaps, even more complex. It is necessary to understand how gravity relates to other forces of nature. This fundamental interaction stands, as it were, separately, despite the fact that by the principle of construction this theory is similar to all others.
Einstein studied the theory of gravity, trying to connect it with electromagnetism. Despite the apparent reality of solving this problem, the theory then still failed. Now mankind knows a little more, in any case, we know about strong and weak interactions. And if now to complete this unified theory, then the lack of knowledge will certainly affect again. Until now, it has not been possible to put gravity on a par with other interactions, since everyone obeys the laws dictated by quantum physics, but gravity does not. According to quantum theory, all particles are quanta of a certain field. But quantum gravity does not exist, at least for now. However, the number of already open interactions loudly asserts that there cannot be some unified scheme.
Electric field
Back in 1860, the great nineteenth-century physicist James Maxwell managed to create a theory that explains electromagnetic induction. When the magnetic field changes over time, an electric field is formed at a certain point in space. And if a closed conductor is detected in this field, then an induction current appears in the electric field. With his theory of electromagnetic fields, Maxwell proves that the reverse process is also likely: if you change the electric field in time at a certain point in space, a magnetic field will necessarily appear. This means that any change in the time of the magnetic field can cause the appearance of a changing electric field, and by changing the electric one you can get a changing magnetic field. These variables, generating each other fields, organize a single field - electromagnetic.
The most important result arising from the formulas of Maxwell's theory is the prediction that there are electromagnetic waves, that is, propagating electromagnetic fields in time and space. The source of the electromagnetic field is electric charges moving with acceleration. Unlike sound (elastic) waves, electromagnetic waves can propagate in any substance, even in a vacuum. Electromagnetic interaction in a vacuum propagates at the speed of light (c = 299 792 kilometers per second). The wavelength can be different. Electromagnetic waves from ten thousand meters to 0.005 meters are radio waves that serve us to transmit information, that is, signals to a certain distance without any wires. Radio waves are generated by current at high frequencies that flow in the antenna.
What are the waves
If the wavelength of electromagnetic radiation is from 0.005 meters to 1 micrometer, that is, those that are in the range between radio waves and visible light are infrared radiation. All heated bodies emit it: batteries, furnaces, incandescent lamps. Special devices convert infrared radiation into visible light to obtain images of objects emitting it, even in absolute darkness. Visible light emits waves from 770 to 380 nanometers in length - the color is from red to purple. This part of the spectrum is extremely important for human life, because a huge part of the information about the world we get through vision.
If electromagnetic radiation has a wavelength shorter than the violet color, it is ultraviolet light that kills pathogenic bacteria. X-rays are not visible to the eye. They hardly absorb layers of matter that are opaque to visible light. X-ray radiation diagnoses diseases of the internal organs of humans and animals. If electromagnetic radiation arises from the interaction of elementary particles and is emitted by excited nuclei, gamma radiation is obtained. This is the widest range in the electromagnetic spectrum, because it is not limited to high energies. Gamma radiation can be soft and hard: energy transitions inside atomic nuclei are soft, and hard during nuclear reactions. These quanta easily destroy molecules, especially biological ones. It is great happiness that gamma radiation cannot pass through the atmosphere. You can observe gamma rays from space. At ultrahigh energies, the electromagnetic interaction propagates at a speed close to the light: gamma rays crush the nuclei of atoms, breaking them into particles scattering in different directions. When braking, they emit light visible through special telescopes.
From the past to the future
Electromagnetic waves, as already mentioned, are predicted by Maxwell. He carefully studied and tried to believe in mathematics the slightly naive pictures of Faraday, which depicted magnetic and electrical phenomena. It was Maxwell who discovered the lack of symmetry. And it was he who managed to prove by a series of equations that alternating electric fields generate magnetic fields and vice versa. This prompted him to the idea that such fields break away from the conductors and move through the vacuum at some gigantic speed. And he figured it out. The speed was close to three hundred thousand kilometers per second.
This is how theory and experiment interact. An example is the discovery, thanks to which we learned about the existence of electromagnetic waves. - , , . , : , , , , ( , ). , .
conclusions
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