Re: The Electron

[Jack Uretsky <jlu@HEP.ANL.GOV>]

        I like Josh's eloquent expression of the puzzlement that most of
us experience when we first confront the Quantum universe:
        "We talk about things as if they ARE as the models say they are,
when we really don't know what is really going on."

        This puzzlement makes the unstated assumption that there is some
kinde of "reality" beyond the models.  The closest we know how to judge
whether we are grasping "reality" is our ability to predict experimental
results.  Our grasp of the the reality of our model of the muon, e.g., is
measured by a prediction of the magnetic moment that is accurate to a few
parts in (as I recall) 10*11.  I have contended that we will not be able
to do better than that until we have "solved" the problems posed by QCD.
        There are pictures that go with the muon magnetic-moment
calculation (Feynman diagrams) that lend themselve to language
descriptive of "internal structure", vacuum polarization, and the like,
and such pictures are sometimes an aid to our intuition.  Sometimes,
however, the pictures can lead us astray (example: trying to understand
"dark energy" as the energy of the vacuum).
                                                Regards,
                                                        Jack

On Mon, 10 Nov 2003, J. Green wrote:

> When I mentioned the "some guy's theory" bit, I was principally thinking of
> the Pauli exclusion principle, which is not much of an answer for me, since
> the proof is that "he said it".  I'm not so much concerned with something I
> can draw on a piece of paper as much as something I can imagine.  If it is
> indeed a string, how does it explain what we do know about it?  I think it
> would be best to separate what is "KNOWN" about electrons (wich I admit
> could be an endless argument in itself) and what the questions are.  We talk
> about things as if they ARE as the models say they are, when we really don't
> know what is really going on.  I will look into the leads and revisit this
> subject.  Thanks all, furthur insights will be appreciated.
>
> Josh Green

--
"Don't push the river, it flows by itself"
                                Frederick Perls