Related papers: Quantum states with negative energy density in the…
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…
Negative energy densities in the Dirac field produced by state vectors that are the superposition of two single particle electron states are examined. I show that for such states the energy density of the field is not bounded from below and…
We examine the maximum negative energy density which can be attained in various quantum states of a massless scalar field. We consider states in which either one or two modes are excited, and show that the energy density can be given in…
We analyze the Lagrangian density and canonical stress-energy tensor for the Dirac equation, where the Dirac bispinor has been recast as a multivector set of fields. For the massless Dirac field, the sign of the energy density is determined…
In classical physics the energy density of a field, such as the electromagnetic field, is always positive. However, in quantum field theory it has been shown that the energy density can be negative. There are restrictions, called the…
We study the phenomenon of negative energy densities in quantum field theories with self-interaction. Specifically, we consider a class of integrable models (including the sinh-Gordon model) in which we investigate the expectation value of…
In quantum field theory it is generally known that the energy density may be negative at a given point in spacetime. A number of papers have shown that there is a restriction on this energy density which is called a quantum inequality (QI).…
There has been much recent work on quantum inequalities to constrain negative energy. These are uncertainty principle-type restrictions on the magnitude and duration of negative energy densities or fluxes. We consider several examples of…
Quantum field theory allows for the suppression of vacuum fluctuations, leading to sub-vacuum phenomena. One of these is the appearance of local negative energy density. Selected aspects of negative energy will be reviewed, including the…
It is well known that the energy density of a quantum state can be negative. It has been shown that there are limits on this negative energy density which are called the quantum inequalities. In this paper we will demonstrate an example of…
In quantum field theory there exist states for which the energy density is negative. It is important that these negative energy densities satisfy constraints, such as quantum inequalities, to minimize possible violations of causality, the…
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…
We study a phenomenon occuring in various areas of quantum physics, in which an observable density (such as an energy density) which is classically pointwise nonnegative may assume arbitrarily negative expectation values after quantisation,…
The standard assumption for the equilibrium microcanonical state in quantum mechanics, that the system must be in one of the energy eigenstates, is weakened so as to allow superpositions of states. The weakened form of the microcanonical…
In quantum field theory, there exist states in which the expectation value of the energy density for a quantized field is negative. These negative energy densities lead to many problems. Although quantum field theory introduces negative…
The sampled negative energy density seen by inertial observers, in arbitrary quantum states is limited by quantum inequalities, which take the form of an inverse relation between the magnitude and duration of the negative energy. The…
I show that a quantized Klein-Gordon field in Minkowski space obeys an `operational' weak energy condition: the energy of an isolated device constructed to measure or trap the energy in a region, plus the energy it measures or traps, cannot…
A common assumption in quantum field theory is that the energy-momentum 4-vector of any quantum state must be timelike. It will be proven that this is not the case for a Dirac-Maxwell field. In this case quantum states can be shown to exist…
Negative energy density is unavoidable in the quantum theory of field. We give a revised proof of the existence of negative energy density unambiguously for a massless scalar field.
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…