Related papers: Can quantum mechanics breed negative masses?
Dark energy and dark matter constitute 95% of the observable Universe. Yet the physical nature of these two phenomena remains a mystery. Einstein suggested a long-forgotten solution: gravitationally repulsive negative masses, which drive…
It has been argued since 1948, when it was experimentally demonstrated, that the Casimir effect-where two non-charged conducting plates have a weak but measurable force on each other dependent on the inverse fourth power of the distance…
We review the standards of relativistic quantum mechanics such as the Dirac equation under the concept of negative masses. We show that negative energies are acceptable provided the masses are simultaneously negative. Negative energy and…
We study the problem of the behavior of a quantum massless scalar field in the space between two parallel infinite perfectly conducting plates, one of them stationary, the other moving periodically. We reformulate the physical problem into…
By means of two simple examples: phase and amplitude damping, the impact of decoherence on the dynamical Casimir effect is investigated. Even without dissipating energy (i.e., pure phase damping), the amount of created particles can be…
We consider one-dimensional propagation of quantum light in the presence of a block of material, with a full account of dispersion and absorption. The electromagnetic zero-point energy for some frequencies is damped (suppressed) by the…
The Casimir effect, a key observable realization of vacuum fluctuations, is usually taught in graduate courses on quantum field theory. The growing importance of Casimir forces in microelectromechanical systems motivates this subject as a…
Building on the "quantum inequalities" introduced by Ford, I argue that the negative local energies encountered in quantum field theory can only be observed by detectors with positive energies at least as great in magnitude. This means that…
Although negative energy densities are predicted by relativistic quantum field theories, I present an argument that an "operational" positivity still holds: the energy in a region, plus the energy of an isolated device which traps or…
We study the fundamental limitations of cooling to absolute zero for a qubit, interacting with a single mode of the electromagnetic field. Our results show that the dynamical Casimir effect, which is unavoidable in any finite-time…
Complete positivity is a ubiquitous assumption in the study of quantum systems interacting with the environment, despite repeated efforts to point out that the assumption is not empirically justified. It will be shown that Hamiltonian…
A matter-field theory of the Casimir force is formulated in which the electromagnetic field and collective modes of dielectric media are treated on an equal footing. In our theory, the Casimir force is attributed to zero-point energies of…
Our aim is to study the electron-positron vacuum pressures in presence of a strong magnetic field $B$. To that end, we obtain a general energy-momentum tensor, depending on external parameters, which in the zero temperature and zero density…
Doubt continues to linger over the reality of quantum vacuum energy. There is some question whether fluctuating fields gravitate at all, or do so anomalously. Here we show that for the simple case of parallel conducting plates, the…
The primary focus of this dissertation is the study of the Casimir effect and the possibility that this phenomenon may serve as a mechanism to mediate higher dimensional stability, and also as a possible mechanism for creating a small but…
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…
The positive energy theorem precludes the possibility of Minkowski flat space decaying by any mechanism. In certain circumstances, however, large quantum fluctuations of the gravitational field could arise---not only at the Planck scale,…
The Casimir forces on two parallel plates in conformally flat de Sitter background due to conformally coupled massless scalar field satisfying mixed boundary conditions on the plates is investigated. In the general case of mixed boundary…
Recently, we have demonstrated that for a certain class of Casimir-type systems ("devices") the energy of zero-point vacuum fluctuations reaches its global minimum when the device rotates about a certain axis rather than remains static.…
Whereas the total energy in zero-point fluctuations of the particle physics vacuum gives rise to the cosmological constant problem, differences in the vacuum give rise to real physical phenomena, such as the Casimir effect. Hence we…