Related papers: The Weight of Vacuum Fluctuations
This talk summarizes a new understanding of the cosmological constant problem, which essentially relies on a phase-space-like computation of the vacuum energy, both in the realm of quantum field theory coupled to gravity, and in the realm…
The non-relativistic self-gravitating gas in thermal equilibrium in the presence of a positive cosmological constant Lambda (dark energy) is investigated. The dark energy introduces a force pushing outward all particles with strength…
In the data of the ether-drift experiments there might be sizable fluctuations superposed on the smooth sinusoidal modulations due to the Earth's rotation and orbital revolution. These fluctuations might reflect the stochastic nature of the…
We discuss the weight of vacuum energy in various contexts. First, we compute the vacuum energy for flat spacetimes of the form $\mathbb{T}^3 \times \mathbb{R}$, where $\mathbb{T}^3$ stands for a general 3-torus. We discover a quite simple…
The cosmological constant presents one of the most fascinating and confounding problems in physics. A straightforward, seemingly robust prediction of quantum mechanics and general relativity is that the vacuum energy gravitates. Therefore,…
It is pointed out that quantum vacuum fluctuations may give rise to a curvature of space-time equivalent to the curvature currently attributed to dark energy. A simple calculation is made, which suggests that the value of the dark energy…
Quantum vacuum fluctuations tend to be strongly anti-correlated, which reduces their observable effects. However, time dependence can upset the cancellation of these anti-correlated fluctuations and greatly enhance their effects. This form…
In loop quantum cosmology, the values of volume fluctuations and correlations determine whether the dynamics of an evolving state exhibits a bounce. Of particular interest are states that are supported only on either the positive or the…
We analyze the quantum fluctuations of vacuum stress tensors and spacetime curvatures, using the framework of linear response theory which connects these fluctuations to dissipation mechanisms arising when stress tensors and spacetime…
The vacuum correlations of the gravitational field are highly non-trivial to be defined and computed, as soon as their arguments and indices do not belong to a background but become dynamical quantities. Their knowledge is essential however…
A model for observable effects of electromagnetic vacuum fluctuations is presented. The model involves a probe pulse which traverses a slab of nonlinear optical material with a nonzero second order polarizability. We argue that the pulse…
We point out that the standard formulation of the cosmological constant problem itself is problematic since it is trying to apply the very large scale homogeneous cosmological model to very small (Planck) scale phenomenon. At small scales,…
We investigate the contribution of zero-point motion, arising from fluctuations in kaon modes, to the ground state properties of neutron star matter containing a Bose condensate of kaons. The zero-point energy is derived via the…
We show that laboratory experiments cannot measure the absolute value of dark energy. All known experiments rely on electromagnetic interactions. They are thus insensitive to particles and fields that interact only weakly with ordinary…
According to some authors, gravity might be an emergent phenomenon in a fundamentally flat space-time. In this case the speed of light in the vacuum would not coincide exactly with the basic parameter "c" entering Lorentz transformations…
We investigate the role of vacuum (zero-point) fluctuations in generating decoherence in a number of simple models. First we discuss a harmonic oscillator coupled to a semi-infinite elastic string and discuss the irreversible nature of such…
We review current observations of the homogeneous cosmological expansion which, because they measure only kinematic variables, cannot determine the dynamics driving the recent accelerated expansion. The minimal fit to the data, the flat…
Quantum vacuum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field result in two signatures on a harmonically trapped charged particle: a shift from the natural trap frequency and generation of quantum coherences. We assess the role of the…
There are two types of fluctuations in the quantum vacuum: type 1 vacuum fluctuations are on shell and can interact with matter in specific, limited ways that have observable consequences; type 2 vacuum fluctuations are off shell and cannot…
The cosmological constant problem arises because the magnitude of vacuum energy density predicted by quantum mechanics is about 120 orders of magnitude larger than the value implied by cosmological observations of accelerating cosmic…