Many electromagnetic interactions are modeled as exchanges of a real photons: e.g. an excited electron can relax and emit a photon. Somewhere else, a photon and an electron can interact, "consuming" the photon and leaving the electron in a more excited state.
Electromagnetic radiation is modeled as a flow of real photons. The flux of energy radiated through a surface over a time is the sum of all photons' energy that pass through that surface.
Other electromagnetic interactions are modeled as exchanges of virtual photons: e.g. the electrostatic force between two electrons is mediated by virtual photons exchanged between them.
I understand that these virtual particles are not "real" in the sense that they can't be measured directly, and are just a representation of whatever actual physics our models approximate. They "exist" transiently, in infinitude. In a vacuum field, virtual photons pop in an out of existence, with their total energy and momentum summing to zero.
Can electro/magnetostatic fields be modeled as flows of virtual photons to/from on their sources? In the absence of a field, the "positive" and "negative" virtual photons cancel out in energy and momentum. In the presence of a charge, are positive virtual photons flowing one way, and negative virtual photons in the other, relative to the charge? What would the net energy and momentum flux through some surface around e.g. an electron be?
Part of why I ask: radiation pressure is quantized in the sense that each individual photon imparts momentum on an object, instantaneously, yet it's difficult for me to imagine the situation for static charges where they accelerate continuously.
