Related papers: Is the physical vacuum a preferred frame ?
For a quantum field in a curved background the choice of the vacuum state is crucial. We exhibit a vacuum state in which the expectation values of the energy and pressure allow an intuitive interpretation. We apply this general result to…
In quantum theory the vacuum is defined as a state of minimum energy that is devoid of particles but still not completely empty. It is perhaps more surprising that its definition depends on the geometry of the system and on the trajectory…
It is shown that the necessary criterion for choosing the energy-momentum tensor of a physical system is the form of its linear invariant, which should be the lagrangian of this physical system. Examples of energy-momentum tensors that meet…
This article examines how the physical presence of field energy and particulate matter could influence the topological properties of space time. The theory is developed in terms of vector and matrix equations of exterior differential forms.…
Particle-antiparticle pairs are predicted by quantum field theory to appear as vacuum fluctuations. The model of the vacuum used here is postulated to have the following properties: To minimize the violation of conservation energy allowed…
The vacuum is the lowest energy state of a field in a certain region of space. This definition implies that no particles can be present in the vacuum state. In classical physics, the only features of vacuum are those of its geometry. For…
One of the most fundamental questions in cosmology is if dark energy is related just to a constant or it is something more complex. In this work, we call the attention to the fact that, under very general conditions, dark energy can be…
The properties of the vacuum are described by quantum physics including the response to external fields such as electromagnetic radiation. Of the two parameters that govern the details of the electromagnetic field dynamics in vacuum, one is…
Theories of gravitation without Lorentz invariance are candidates of low-energy descriptions of quantum gravity. In this review we will describe the phenomenological consequences of the candidates associated to the existence of a preferred…
A common assumption in quantum field theory is that the energy-momentum 4-vector of any quantum state must be timelike. It will be proven that this is not the case for a Dirac-Maxwell field. In this case quantum states can be shown to exist…
We discuss the problem of defining a preferred vacuum state at a given time for a quantized scalar field in Friedmann, Lema\^itre, Robertson Walker (FLRW) space-time. Among the infinitely many homogeneous, isotropic vacua available in the…
This article examines how the physical presence of field energy and particulate matter can be interpreted in terms of the topological properties of space-time. The theory is developed in terms of vector and matrix equations of exterior…
The phenomenon of emergent physics in condensed-matter many-body systems has become the paradigm of modern physics, and can probably also be applied to high-energy physics and cosmology. This encouraging fact comes from the universal…
A diverse set of observations now compellingly suggest that Universe possesses a nonzero cosmological constant. In the context of quantum-field theory a cosmological constant corresponds to the energy density of the vacuum, and the wanted…
A number of recent controversial experiments have observed anomalous thrust forces with devices making use of electromagnetic fields, and which do not appear to emit any particles or radiation; in apparent violation of the principle of the…
Models with extra space-time dimensions produce, tipically, a 4D effective theory whose vacuum is not exactly Lorentz invariant but can be considered a physical medium whose refractive index is determined by the gravitational field. This…
Apart from the familiar structure firmly-rooted in the general relativistic field equations where the energy--momentum tensor has a null divergence i.e., it conserves, there exists a considerable number of extended theories of gravity…
General Principle of Relativity unequivocally supports the notion of momentum-less energy for bodies (energy-quanta) moving at the {\em same} or {\em constant} speed relative to all the reference systems. In this communication, we point out…
The weak energy condition is known to fail in general when applied to expectation values of the the energy momentum tensor in flat space quantum field theory. It is shown how the usual counter arguments against its validity are no longer…
The general thermodynamic analysis of the quantum vacuum, which is based on our knowledge of the vacua in condensed-matter systems, is consistent with the Einstein earlier view on the cosmological constant. In the equilibrium Universes the…