Is there any way in which a bound state could consist only of massless particles? If yes, would this "atom" of massless particles travel on a light-like trajectory, or would the interaction energy cause it to travel on a time-like trajectory?

Hudson Bullock

Hudson Bullock

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2022-08-24

Is there any way in which a bound state could consist only of massless particles? If yes, would this "atom" of massless particles travel on a light-like trajectory, or would the interaction energy cause it to travel on a time-like trajectory?

Answer & Explanation

Nathalie Foster

Nathalie Foster

Beginner2022-08-25Added 7 answers

The answer is that it would have a timelike world-line, and this is independent of any (probably uncertain) details of the system's dynamics or binding energy.
Mass is not additive. Mass is defined (in units with c = 1) by m 2 = E 2 p 2 , where E is the mass-energy and p is the momentum. ( E , p ) is the momentum four-vector, and the squared mass is its squared norm. For a massless particle, the momentum four-vector is lightlike. If four-vectors p and p are both lightlike and future-directed, but not parallel, then p + p is timelike. Therefore a system of interacting, massless particles is guaranteed to have a nonzero mass.

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