virtualParticleLifetime
plain-language theorem explainer
Virtual particle lifetime in Recognition Science is the duration a mass-m fluctuation can persist before the ledger corrects it, expressed as ħ/(2 m c²). Physicists modeling vacuum energy, Casimir forces, or QFT interpretations from discrete time would cite this. The definition is a direct algebraic reduction using the imported RS-native ħ.
Claim. The lifetime of a virtual particle of mass $m$ is given by $Δt = ħ / (2 m c²)$.
background
The QFT module derives vacuum fluctuations from τ₀ discreteness: time is discrete at the fundamental scale, so the uncertainty relation forces energy fluctuations of order ħ/τ₀ that appear as virtual pairs. Upstream, ħ is supplied as the RS-native constant ħ = φ^{-5} (with c = 1) from Constants, while sibling declarations handle the related energy-time uncertainty and zero-point energy. The module setting treats these fluctuations as ledger corrections rather than quantized field modes.
proof idea
One-line definition that applies the imported hbar constant and divides by twice the rest energy term.
why it matters
This definition supplies the explicit lifetime formula required by the QFT-010 target of obtaining vacuum activity from τ₀ discreteness. It supports the module's derivations of Casimir pressure and zero-point energy in sibling declarations and connects directly to the energy-time uncertainty relation. It leaves open the question of how the full QFT vacuum structure emerges without introducing field operators.
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