Related papers: Zero-point energy of solids from vacuum fluctuatio…
A hierarchy of equations for equilibrium reduced density matrices obtained earlier is used to consider systems of spinless bosons bound by forces of gravity alone. The systems are assumed to be at absolute zero of temperature under…
Quantum fluctuations of the vacuum stress-energy tensor are highly non-Gaussian, and can have unexpectedly large effects on spacetime geometry. In this paper, we study a two-dimensional dilaton gravity model coupled to a conformal field, in…
A possible role of quantum effects, such as tunneling and zero-point energy, in the structural dynamics of supercooled liquids is studied by dielectric spectroscopy. Presented results demonstrate that the liquids, bulk 3-methylpentane 3MP…
We discuss some effects induced by quantum field fluctuations on mass, inertia and gravitation. Recalling the problem raised by vacuum field fluctuations with respect to inertia and gravitation, we show that vacuum energy differences, such…
From calculations of the variance of fluctuations and of the mean of the energy density of a massless scalar field in the Minkowski vacuum as a function of an intrinsic scale defined by the world function between two nearby points (as used…
The static Casimir effect describes an attractive force between two conducting plates, due to quantum fluctuations of the electromagnetic (EM) field in the intervening space. {\it Thermal fluctuations} of correlated fluids (such as critical…
When two or more objects move relative to one another in vacuum, they experience a drag force which, at zero temperature, usually goes under the name of quantum friction. This contactless non-conservative interaction is mediated by the…
In this paper the quantum vacuum energies induced by massive fluctuations of one real scalar field on a configuration of two partially transparent plates are analysed. The physical properties of the infinitely thin plates are characterized…
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 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…
The effects of electromagnetic vacuum fluctuations with the boundary on charged particles is investigated. They may be observed via an electron interference experiment near the conducting plate, where boundary effects of vacuum fluctuations…
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…
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…
When the vacuum is partitioned by material boundaries with arbitrary shape, one can define the zero-point energy and the free energy of the electromagnetic waves in it: this can be done, independently of the nature of the boundaries, in the…
The structure of solids and their phases is mainly determined by static Coulomb forces while the coupling of charges to the dynamical, i.e., quantized degrees of freedom of the electromagnetic field plays only a secondary role. Recently, it…
We analyze the divergent zero-point energy of a dilute and ultracold gas of atoms in D spatial dimensions. For bosonic atoms we explicitly show how to regularize this divergent contribution, which appears in the Gaussian fluctuations of the…
Real world quantum systems are open to perpetual influence from the wider environment. Quantum gravitational fluctuations provide a most fundamental source of the environmental influence through their universal interactions with all forms…
Electronic properties of quantum materials solids are often well understood via the low energy dispersion of Bloch bands, motivating single band approximations in many metals and semiconductors. However, a closer look reveals length and…
We investigate the problem of metric fluctuations in the presence of the vacuum fluctuations of matter fields and critically assess the usual assertion that vacuum energy implies a Planckian cosmological constant. A new stochastic classical…
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…