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Scientists Are on the Brink of Discovering the Fifth Fundamental Force of Nature
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It's the energy of the quantum fields that permeate space. They're less "particles" per se, and more just the random jiggles in the quantum fields that aren't coherent enough to be a full-on normal particle of that field, so the ripple starts and then dies out.
https://profmattstrassler.com/articles-and-posts/particle-physics-basics/virtual-particles-what-are-they/