Related papers: The quantum vacuum
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…
Vacuum can be defined with exact mathematical precision as the state which remains when a fermion, with all its special characteristics, is created out of absolutely nothing. The definition leads to a special form of relativistic quantum…
We assume that particles are point-like objects even when not observed. We report on the consequences of our assumption within the realm of quantum theory. An important consequence is the necessity of vacuum fields to account for particle…
The physical world is quantum. However, our description of the quantum physics still relies much on concepts in classical physics and in some cases with `quantized' interpretations. The most important case example is that of spacetime. We…
Till now, the foundation of quantum physics is still mysterious. To explore the mysteries in the foundation of quantum physics, people always take it for granted that quantum processes must be some types of fields/objects on a rigid space.…
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…
Starting from an (unknown) quantum gravitational model, one can invoke a sequence of approximations to progressively arrive at quantum field theory (QFT) in curved spacetime, QFT in flat spacetime, nonrelativistic quantum mechanics and…
General relativity successfully describes space-times at scales that we can observe and probe today, but it cannot be complete as a consequence of singularity theorems. For a long time there have been indications that quantum gravity will…
Standard particle theory is based on quantized matter embedded in a classical geometry. Here, a complementary model is proposed, based on classical matter -- massive bodies, without quantum properties -- embedded in a quantum geometry. It…
A central aspect of the cosmological constant problem is to understand why vacuum energy does not gravitate. In order to account for this observation, while allowing for nontrivial dynamics of the quantum vacuum, we motivate a novel…
The wave-particle duality of the vacuum states of quantum fields is considered and the particle-like property of the vacuum state of a quantum field is proposed as a vacuum-particle which carries the vacuum-energy and the vacuum-momentum of…
Duality transformations within the quantum mechanics of a finite number of degrees of freedom can be regarded as the dependence of the notion of a quantum, i.e., an elementary excitation of the vacuum, on the observer on classical phase…
An intriguing consequence of quantum field theory is that vacuum is not empty space; it is full of quantum fluctuating electromagnetic fields, or virtual photons, corresponding to their zero-point energy, even though the average number of…
Through a new interpretation of Special Theory of Relativity and with a model given for physical space, we can find a way to understand the basic principles of Quantum Mechanics consistently from Classical Theory. It is supposed that…
The hypothesis is proposed that under the approximation that the quantum equations of motion reduce to the classical ones, the quantum vacuum also reduces to the classical vacuum--the empty space. The vacuum energy of QED is studied under…
General relativity is a background-independent theory of a dynamical classical spacetime geometry. Quantum theory is formulated in a classical spacetime, as an intrinsically probabilistic, contextual theory of non-classical, interfering…
Loop quantum gravity, a non-perturbative and manifestly background free, quantum theory of gravity implies that at the kinematical level the spatial geometry is discrete in a specific sense. The spirit of background independence also…
Physicists have speculated about the properties of the quantum vacuum for at least 85 years; however, only recently have they understood the quantum vacuum sufficiently well to begin making testable predictions. Specifically, using…
Vacuum energy in quantum field theory, being the sum of zero-point energies of all field modes, is formally infinite but yet, after regularization or renormalization, can give rise to finite observable effects. One way of understanding how…
The existence of a fundamental scale, a lower bound to any output of a position measurement, seems to be a model-independent feature of quantum gravity. In fact, different approaches to this theory lead to this result. The key ingredients…