Related papers: The Weight of Vacuum Fluctuations
It is shown that the curvature of space-time induced by vacuum fluctuations of quantum fields should be proportional to the square of Newton's constant $G$. This offers a possible explanation for the success of the approximation $G m^6 c^2…
We show that, due to the nonlinear nature of gravity, fluctuations in spacetime curvature generate additional gravitational attraction. This fluctuation-induced extra attraction was overlooked in the conventional understanding of the…
We study the fluctuations in the vacuum zero point energy associated to quantum fields and their statistical distributions during inflation. It is shown that the perturbations in the vacuum zero point energy have large amplitudes which are…
This article aims at discussing the cosmological constant problem at a pedagogical but fully technical level. We review how the vacuum energy can be regularized in flat and curved space-time and how it can be understood in terms of Feynman…
We discuss from the condensed-matter point of view the recent idea that the Poisson fluctuations of cosmological constant about zero could be a source of the observed dark energy. We argue that the thermodynamic fluctuations of Lambda are…
It is argued that the zero-point energies of free quantum fields diverge at most quadratically and not quartically, as is generally believed. This is a consequence of the relativistic invariance which requires that the energy density of the…
We discuss the main myths related to the vacuum energy and cosmological constant, such as: ``unbearable lightness of space-time''; the dominating contribution of zero point energy of quantum fields to the vacuum energy; non-zero vacuum…
We calculate the power spectrum of vacuum fluctuations of a generic scalar field in a quantum cosmological setting that is manifestly singularity-free. The power spectrum is given in terms of the usual scale invariant spectrum plus scale…
Arguments are gived for the plausibility that quantum mechanics is a stochastic theory and that many quantum phenomena derive from the existence of a real noise consisting of vacuum fluctuations of all fundamental fields existing in nature.…
"Negative energy" has been one of the most enduring puzzles in quantum theory, whereas the present work reveals that it actually plays a central role in clarifying various controversies of quantum theory. The basic idea is contained in a…
Vacuum fluctuations play a central role in spontaneous emission. Recently, it has been suggested that these fluctuations could also be fundamental in the absorption dynamics, breaking the superposition inherent to the linear quantum…
This is a review of recent work on quantum fluctuations of the electric field and of stress tensor operators and their physical effects. The probability distribution for vacuum fluctuations of the electric field is Gaussian, but that for…
The existence of irreducible field fluctuations in vacuum is an important prediction of quantum theory. These fluctuations have many observable consequences, like the Casimir effect which is now measured with good accuracy and agreement…
We study the physical content of the electromagnetic vacuum energy of a random medium made of atomic electric dipoles. First, we evaluate the contribution of statistical fluctuations to the average total vacuum energy, which is made out of…
Quantum mechanics ascribes to the ground state of the electromagnetic radiation zero-point electric field fluctuations that permeate empty space at all frequencies. No energy can be extracted from the ground state of a system and,…
Zero-point fluctuations are a universal consequence of quantum theory. Vacuum fluctuations of electromagnetic field have provided crucial evidence and guidance for QED as a successful quantum field theory with a defining gauge symmetry…
We explore two hypotheses. First, the possibility that the quantum vacuum energy density of the Casimir effect contributes to a (local) gravitational vacuum energy density. Second, the possibility that a change in the gravitational coupling…
The behavior of the gravitating vacuum energy density in an expanding universe is discussed. A scenario is presented with a step-wise relaxation of the vacuum energy density. The vacuum energy density moves from plateau to plateau and…
We discuss the density fluctuations of a fluid due to zero point motion. These can be regarded as density fluctuations in the phonon vacuum state. We assume a linear dispersion relation with a fixed speed of sound and calculate the density…
The Lamb shift results from the coupling of an atom to vacuum fluctuations of quantum fields, so corrections are expected to arise when the spacetime is curved since the vacuum fluctuations are modified by the presence of spacetime…