In standard quantum field theory, interactions are described in terms of particle exchanges: virtual photons mediate electromagnetic forces; gluons bind quarks inside protons and neutrons. These processes are visualised through Feynman diagrams — spacetime pictures where lines meet, split, or merge in localised events.
But while such diagrams are powerful calculational tools, they carry strong metaphysical baggage. They suggest:
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That particles are discrete things entering and exiting interactions,
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That interactions are localised events between entities,
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That fields are passive channels for the exchange of “quantum stuff.”
From a relational perspective, this picture must be radically rethought. Interactions are not exchanges between particles. They are reconfigurations of constraint — shifts in coherence across a structured field of potential.
1. The Myth of Exchange
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The metaphor of “exchange” implies that something is handed from one particle to another — as if forces are packages thrown across spacetime,
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But virtual particles do not exist in any classical sense; they are internal terms in a perturbative series,
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In relational terms, nothing is being exchanged. What changes is the relational structure — a mutual reorganisation of affordance under constraint.
2. No Independent Actors
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In conventional QFT, interacting particles are treated as separate entities brought together in a vertex,
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But if individuation is perspectival, then what we see as multiple particles is just a cut in a deeper coherence,
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Interactions are not collisions of actors; they are folds in relation — zones where construal shifts due to mutual modulation of potential.
3. Diagram as Cut, Not Process
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A Feynman diagram is not a literal depiction of a process unfolding in time. It is a formal cut: a construal of contribution to amplitude,
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The lines do not track things moving through space. They encode constraints on the resolution of the field, given certain boundary conditions,
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The diagram is not a picture of reality; it is a map of possible transitions, under selected approximations.
4. Interaction as Coherence Reorganisation
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What we call an “interaction” is a redistribution of coherence across the field,
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It occurs not between objects, but within a relational topology — a reweaving of potential that gives rise to observable outcomes,
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The field doesn’t mediate force. It structures transition: it shapes how and when one configuration gives way to another.
5. Locality Revisited
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Standard quantum field theory preserves micro-causality — the principle that field operators commute outside the light cone,
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But experiments (e.g. Bell tests) show that correlation can outrun local causation. The resolution? Interactions are not localised events between distant points,
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Instead, they are nonlocal reorganisations of a shared potential — not faster-than-light signalling, but a non-separable field reconfiguring as a whole.
Closing
Quantum interactions are not exchanges of entities, but shifts in the coherence of a relational system. What we observe as “forces” or “collisions” are simply different cuts in a deeper field of constraint — momentary stabilisations of potential into phenomena.
From this perspective, the so-called “virtual” becomes real in a new way: not as ghostly particles in intermediate steps, but as structural tensions within the topology of the field — tensions that shape what can appear, where, and how.
In the next post, we’ll explore how this view reorients our understanding of measurement — not as a detection of pre-existing properties, but as a punctualisation: a constrained construal that draws resolution from a sea of potential.
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