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Derivation of interaction potentials of fundamental forces

Physics Asked on December 26, 2020

In Gauge theory of weak interactions by Greiner and Müller, they show the following superb comparison of the interaction potentials between particles as a function of separation:

absolute value of potential |V(r)| between elementary particles

I have never seen this graph anywhere else, and nor have I seen any information on how the lines it plots were or could be derived. Is there a clear argument to justify these scaling behaviours?

One Answer

Since this is a log-log plot the straight lines (Coulomb, gravitation, strong inside $10^{-15}$ m) are the long range power laws ($1/r$) resulting from exchange of massless bosons (photon, gluon, graviton). I'm not sure what units are being used for the vertical (potential) axis but it is probably eV or MeV (hard to tell on a log-log plot). For the weak force I'm sure they are just using a Yukawa function ($e^{-mr}/r$) where m is the mass of the weak vector bosons (W,Z). For the strong force outside the quark confinement radius they are probably using the same with m chosen to be the mass of the pion.

Answered by Lewis Miller on December 26, 2020

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