This is totally impossible in the classical view, but is fine in the quantum electrodynamic (QED) view.
This is totally impossible in the classical view, but is fine in the quantum electrodynamic (QED) view.
doesn't the energy need to be at least the mass of the virtual particle?
The uncertainty principle says you can "fudge" the energy if your time-scale is short enough, and this is what happens. A result of this is that the distance the weak force can operate over is limited, since the timescale has to be short, so the particles don't have the time to travel very far.
More info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_shell_and_off_shell
Not having charge doesn't imply they don't interact. They just don't through the electromagnetic force. Neutrons also have no charge but interact via the strong force, for example.