Every subatomic particle which interact with the 3 quantum interactions has a cloud of virtual particles.
How big is that cloud and where is its density bigger?
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1Hi Se1fie, welcome to Physics Stack Exchange. Virtual particles don't actually exist. It took me a while to find this out, but what you read in popular science books about virtual particles is a myth built on misconception upon misconception. – Mark Morales II Oct 10 '20 at 04:16
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You can read about it here: https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/physics-virtual-particles/, https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/misconceptions-virtual-particles/, https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/vacuum-fluctuation-myth/, https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/vacuum-fluctuations-experimental-practice/ – Mark Morales II Oct 10 '20 at 04:16
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Please read my answer here that defines virtual particles as the term is used in particle physics. The range of interactions depends on the force and is seen here.
In general quantum effects are probabilistic, what is shown is the range where the probability to see an interaction with our present experimental accuracies is non zero for the three forces. For gravity, once it is quantized , the range of two particles interacting is infinite.
The cloud you envisage is a mathematical cloud. There is a probability for an interaction, given by the wave function describing it, and it depends on the boundary conditions of the specific problem which will give where there is a high probability.
anna v
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