Related papers: The zero-point energy of elementary quantum fields
Alternative forms of the solutions to the quantum field equations and their implications for physical theory are considered. Incorporation of these alternative solution forms, herein deemed "supplemental solutions", into the development of…
The electronic structure of heavy elements, when described in a space-time which the metric is affected by the electromagnetic interaction, presents instabilities. These instabilities increase with the atomic number, and above a critical…
We define the state of minimum energy while the expectation values of the field operators and their time derivatives in a determined moment in such a state are constrained. As an axiom, we consider such a state as the background of the…
It is well known that the spectrum condition, i.e. the positivity of the energy in every inertial coordinate system, is one of the central conceptual ingredients in model-independent approaches to relativistic quantum field theory. When one…
A brief review is given of three recent results concerning classical solutions of gravitational theories: (1) With asymptotically anti de Sitter boundary conditions, there are matter theories satisfying the positive energy theorem which…
We derive the atomic radiative corrections predicted by QED using an alternative approach that offers the advantage of physical clarity and transparency. The element that gives rise to these corrections is the fluctuating zero-point…
We consider a large atom with nuclear charge $Z$ described by non-relativistic quantum mechanics with classical or quantized electromagnetic field. We prove that the absolute ground state energy, allowing for minimizing over all possible…
It is well known that there can be negative energy densities in quantum field theory. Most of the work done in this area has involved free non-interacting systems. In this paper we show how a quantum state with negative energy density can…
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…
It is shown that the magnetic energy of a quantum current, contrary to the classical case, is essentially negative. Since this result allows to escape a famous theorem by Bloch, it can be expected that, under appropriate conditions, the…
Quantum field theory predicts that vacuum energy (or what is the same, cosmological constant) should be 50-100 orders of magnitude larger than the existing astronomical limit. A very brief review of possible solutions of this problem is…
The physics of quantum electromagnetism in an absorbing medium is that of a field of damped harmonic oscillators. Yet until recently the damped harmonic oscillator was not treated with the same kind of formalism used to describe quantum…
As we know, from the Einstein equations the vanishing of the four-divergence of the (symmetric) energy-momentum tensor follows. This is the case because the fourdivergence of the Einstein tensor (which is also symmetric) vanishes…
What is nuclear symmetry energy? Why is it important? What do we know about it? Why is it so uncertain especially at high densities? Can the total symmetry energy or its kinetic part be negative? What are the effects of three-body and/or…
A model for the localized quantum vacuum is proposed in which the zero-point energy of the quantum electromagnetic field originates in energy- and momentum-conserving transitions of material systems from their ground state to an unstable…
We first present a new Lagrangian of general relativity, which can be divided into kinetic energy term and potential energy term. Taking advantage of vierbein formalism, we reduce the kinetic energy term to a sum of five positive terms and…
We consider a departure from standard quantum field theory, constructed so as to permit momentum eigenstates of both positive and negative energy. The resulting theory is intriguing because it brings about the cancellation of leading…
The expansion of the universe has been accepted by scientists for more than a century. However, since the 1990s, observations have suggested that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate. Although the source of this acceleration is…
A new approach is demonstrated that QFTs can be UV finite if they are viewed as the low energy effective theories of a fundamental underlying theory (that is complete and well-defined in all respects) according to the nowaday's standard…
In quantum field theory it is generally assumed that there is a lower bound to the energy of a quantum state. Here, it will be shown that there is no lower bound to the energy of physical states in QED in a manifestly covariant gauge.