How do quantum forces work?

Did you ever wonder why quantum particle physics is so complicated? Well, it turns out that there is another way to look at the quantum world. It's called quantum field theory. This branch of physics takes a different approach and considers all matter and energy to be fields instead of particles. Field theorists think they have a better way to explain everything, including Einstein's relativity because fields are continuous, not discrete like particles, and they interact in space.

This interaction in space is based on a quantum principle called 'Quantum Superposition' that says that two or more quantum states can be added together and the result will be another quantum state. In other words, quantum states are the sum of tow or more other states.

Field theory says that there is no wave-particle duality because there are no particles, only fields. The particle-like behavior is explained by the fact that a field equation lives and dies as a unit. The phenomenon is called field collapse. A field equation predicts how one or more physical fields interact with matter.

Einstein's field equation shows that the 'Ricci curvature tensor' minus one half the 'scalar curvature' times the 'metric tensor' plus the 'cosmological constant' is equal to the 8 pi times the 'gravitational constant' divided by the speed of light to the fourth power and the result multiplied by the 'stress-energy tensor'. Sounds simple, right? Not!

The following ideas lead from quantum field theory:

The Uncertainty Principle is simply a statement that fields are not localized. They spread out.

There is no role of the observer (observation of particles causes change). Field collapse occurs regardless of whether anyone is looking.

Einstein's E=mc^2 comes out of simple physics; f=mc^2/h (mass causes the field to oscillate with frequency) and E=hf (Plank's law).

The Higgs boson is simply a result of the Higgs field, which imparts mass to all other fields by interaction.

Particle confinement principle (quarks are confined to groups) is explained by fields. Actually, much of particles, like electrons, can be described by a wave function that can be integrated over all space. This is a more classical approach to quantum physics.

This is important: Gravity is not a bending of space, but rather the interaction of fields between masses. Gravity fields act on all other fields. The reason why light bends around masses is that the fields are bent and the gravity field acts on the electromagnetic field to bend it. This makes more sense because no one can explain how a mass can bend space, or even how space can be bent in the first place.

Also, the speed of light is not necessarily an impossible velocity barrier. Mass fields increase with velocity and approach infinity near the speed of light because fields spread out. There may be a way to prevent this with a powerful gravitational field.

There is a slow conversion among physicists to this field theory idea because it makes more sense. A lot of particle physics doesn't make sense or is just impossible to understand. To fully understand this field theory one must delve into the math, and that's just not easy to do. What I like about this is that it leads to a more consistent understanding of nature. However, there are some things that field theory cannot explain. That's science for you!

Thanks for reading.