That is an uneducated questionAnd I will give a reply based on my limited education, which is likely not an entirely accurate answer.
For a massive example, there's the Higgs boson, being an excitation of the Higgs fieldSeems to shoot down my idea
Are possibly all massless particles just travelling waves in particle fields?Quantum Field Theory views all particles as excitations in a field (including the massless particles).
Hi.Amazing how it can be possible to begin to appreciate something even though one actually understands practically nothing of it
Looks like you're talking about QFT again.
There does seem to be a field for every particle in the standard model of particle physics. There's about 17 of these things. Depending on how you group these, you need to account for different spins, colour charges etc. This often brings the total number of fields you need to consider up to 37.
You asked "Are possibly all massless particles just travelling waves in particle fields?"
I can say that they aren't in the conventional models of QFT, every particle (even the massless ones) gets its own field. However, the more general scope of your question is "could they be? Is there some model that would make sense in this way?" The answer to that is possibly. I don't know and this probably belongs in the New Theories section.
When Halc said - "for a massive example....." he didn't mean here's a big example, he just meant "for a particle with mass, quite a lot of mass in this case".
Here are some lecture notes on QFT that I've started looking at. They seem reasonable but the choice of alternative lectures is extremely limited anyway. Well, unless you can physically get to a university and enroll on a suitable course. "Quantum Field Theory", lectures 1 through 18, by Tobias Osbourne, aimed at post-graduate level study, freely available on You Tube:
If you (anyone) are studying that course, great, you can tell me what's happening and/or if there's a better freely available resource I can use. Pre-requisites include stuff from Physics degrees which I constantly have to go and find elsewhere. (I know some Maths but I'm light on classical physics).
If you just want some lighter videos about QFT, well you've seen the one I recommended earlier on another thread. To be honest, I think that one's the best Pop Sci video on the topic. There's this one which is OK but it's just information: "Quantum Field theory visualized" by ScienceClic, also on YouTube.
At about time scale 7:40 in that video they discuss the various fields that each correspond to particles in the standard model.
Best wishes.
Who ,I wonder was or were the inventors of WFT? Some unholy collaboration,I'd guess.As a successful theoretical framework today, quantum field theory emerged from the work of generations of theoretical physicists spanning much of the 20th century....
Who ,I wonder was or were the inventors of QFT? Some unholy collaboration,I'd guess.If science were a religion then this would be a holy collaboration.
I didn't realise it could be used to predict scenarios in the real worldAlthough often called theoretical physics, much of the theory is in response to the results of experiments. If the theory didn’t fit the experimental results and predict accurately, it would be discarded or changed; and that really is how science works.
I thought this was ivory tower territory.
Hi Colin2B.Whoa there! Sailing is physics. Vectors, venturi, wing stall speed, drag, etc; not to mention meterology, oceanography, wave/wind dynamics etc.
Never mind the Physics. How did your sailing go?
To everyone,Sorry, I missed your video post when replying to @geordief
I'm serious about taking advice for learning about QFT. If anyone has a recommendation for a book or other resource, I'd be grateful. General idea: I can't actually travel to a University and enroll in a course at the moment so please don't recommend a place a study (unless it's distance learning).
@geordief did you take up Pete’s offer of maths lessons, if so, how far did you get?Well,I think Pete's website had gone very quiet by the time he invited me to join.
I don’t think it’s worth you studying the technical detail of QFT unless you really intended to use it, and it will be an uphill struggle. Just take all the Popsci articles and videos with a pinch of salt ie don’t take them literally
Sorry to learn that Pete died.I hope it was not too difficult towards the end.Yes very sad. I heard via Alan Guth who was a really good friend and gave him a lot of support. He always had difficulty with pain management and that made him very irritable at times, but I count him as a friend who contributed a lot and will be missed.