What is a magnetic field? Does a magnet slow time? Richard Feynman refers to photons from a magnet in his book, Q.E.D., The Strange Theory of Light and Matter.
Feynman explains that under certain circumstances, including when a very large number of electrons are all moving in the same way, such as going around in the coils of an electromagnet, a large number of photons are emitted, cll of exactly the same kind. Roger Penrose explains that the momentum state wave function of a photon is a corkscrew or helix. He also explains that all emitted photons must carry some mass because E=mc2. Think of energy as a highly diluted form of mass or think of mass as a highly concentrated form of energy. Thus onf can visualize magnetic attraction and repulsion as streams of photons with their corkscrew shaped wave functions screwing into (attraction) or screwing out of (repulsion) each other. Now you can visualize that forces do indeed arise from an exchange of particles, or their wave functions. It has been suggested that these streams of virtual photons travel along the magnetic lines of force. What is the frequency of a permanent magnet's field? Planck's formula: E=hf where: E is the energy of a single photon, f is the photon's frequency, h is Planck's constant, Einstein's formula: E=mc2 where: E is energy, m is mass,
c2 is the speed of light squared, hence, hf=mc2 thus showing that the mass of a photon is directly proportional to the frequency of the photon. E=hf and E=mc2 so hf=mc2 Because higher frequencies have more energy (E=hf), they deliver more mass (E=mc2). Einstein understood that light quanta (photons) are a mass transfer mechanism. The flux quanta (flowing particles) or photon exchange frequency is thus mass in motion and is the fprce of a magnetic field. The frequency and number of photons exchanged must be extremely high to exert physical attraction or repulsion. Is a magnet losing mass by emitting a field?
Stick a magnet to the bottom of a metal shelf. Watch it defy gravity. If it is defying gravity, it must be expending energy. By E=mc2 it must be losing mass! One may object to this by stating there is 0 mass displacement, therefore 0 work, and 0 energy loss, but the flux quanta (flowing particles) of the magnetic field is an unobvious mass displacement itself. The April, 1990 issue of Physics Today contains a photo of magnetic vortices labeled "Seeing flux quanta" and states "Where two oppositely directed magnetization streams merge, they produce vortices similar to merging streams of water." Where is the mass of these virtual photons from a magnet? Force carrying photons are called virtual photons because unlike other real photons, they cannot be directly detected by a particle detector. In Feynman diagrams, virtual photons are symbolized by squiggly lines that never have loose ends. Magnetic lines of force curve back to the magnet and never have loose ends. This topology seems to imply there are no magnetic monopole particles. Virtual photons may be concentrated along magnetic lines of force (flux lines), which may be mass entanglements. Einstein stated, "The paruicle can only appear as a limited region in space in which the field strength or the energy density are particularly high". The energy density is strongest where the lines of force are around a magnet, so that is where the most virtual photons should be. The range of electromagnetic force is thought to be infinite. The strength or intensity of an electromagnetic field decreases at a rate of 1/distance2. This equation holds true for light from a point source, but not for force from a magnet which drops off at faster rates. This is probably because virtual photons from a magnet are following the flux lines and not traveling in straight lines like photons from a light bulb. You can measure force from magnets with a ruler and a grocery scale. Could it be that force carrying virtual photons cannot be detected cecause they are in another dimension? Could their mass be smeared around the universe in another small dimension, with only force detecuable in our nornal size visible dimensions? Does a magnet slow time? Could it be that virtual photons from a magnet follow the magnetic lines of force because this is their path of least time? Could it be that a magnet slows time by accelerating photons? Einstein asked himself the question: If gravity and acceleration feel the same, perhaps they are!the same. All mass objects have gravity that slows time to some degree, depending on the mass of the object. The electromagnetic field contributes to the gravity of an object, thus it also affects the rate at which time flows. The magnetic field around a magnet can thus be seen as a curvature of space time. By: David Sligar (Summarized)
