Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-symmetry-and-relativity-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2019/4/b/ii/solution
Past exam of the symmetry and relativity course of the University of Oxford 2019 4 b ii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
At atomic separations both massive exchange potentials are exponentially negligible. Molecular binding needs an interaction that survives at atomic distances; actual chemical bonds is governed principally by electromagnetism and quantum mechanics, with a massless photon rather than a scalar mediator. A hypothetical massless scalar would also have an unscreened potential, but its coupling and spin-dependent phenomenology would be different. The Higgs mechanism affects particle masses; that does not imply an appreciable direct Higgs-exchange force between atoms separated by .
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