Patrick Elliott wrote:
> I mean real in the sense that they "stay put",

According to the math, they don't "stay put". Virtual particles are 
created when a "real" particle vanishes. Then the virtual particles bump 
into each other again and turn back into the "real" particle.

> But, just speculating. After all, the point, if you have one experiment 
> that doesn't make sense, and you can't resolve the difference, is to try 
> to unify the results, and that "may" mean reconsidering your assumptions 
> about what particles "appear" to do normally, rather than presuming that 
> you have just found some odd special case.

Sure. Or do more experiments to figure it out.

-- 
   Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
     "That's pretty. Where's that?"
          "It's the Age of Channelwood."
     "We should go there on vacation some time."

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