scholarly journals Listening to the quantum vacuum: a perspective on the dynamical Casimir effect

2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 18-20
Author(s):  
Gheorghe Sorin Paraoanu ◽  
Göran Johansson

Modern quantum field theory has offered us a very intriguing picture of empty space. The vacuum state is no longer an inert, motionless state. We are instead dealing with an entity teeming with fluctuations that continuously produce virtual particles popping in and out of existence. The dynamical Casimir effect is a paradigmatic phenomenon, whereby these particles are converted into real particles (photons) by changing the boundary conditions of the field. It was predicted 50 years ago by Gerald T. Moore and it took more than 40 years until the first experimental verification.

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 390-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
ITAY SHANI ◽  
JOACHIM KEPPLER

AbstractThe aim of this paper is twofold. First, our purpose is to propose and motivate a novel and scientifically informed variant of cosmopsychism, namely, the view that the experiences of ordinary subjects are ultimately grounded in an all-pervading cosmic consciousness. Second, we will demonstrate that this approach generates promising avenues for addressing familiar problems of phenomenal constitution. We use stochastic electrodynamics (SED) as the physical bedrock of our approach, supplementing it with key insights about the nature of consciousness long emphasized in eastern philosophy and other wisdom traditions. We proceed to show that our approach substantiates an intriguing way of thinking about the dynamical emergence of ordinary consciousness from cosmic consciousness, identifying the latter with the vacuum state of quantum field theory. Finally, we argue that the present approach is well suited to address problems of phenomenal constitution, in particular as they pertain to the qualities and structure of experience and to the generation of subjects.


2006 ◽  
Vol 03 (07) ◽  
pp. 1303-1312 ◽  
Author(s):  
WEIGANG QIU ◽  
FEI SUN ◽  
HONGBAO ZHANG

From the modern viewpoint and by the geometric method, this paper provides a concise foundation for the quantum theory of massless spin-3/2 field in Minkowski spacetime, which includes both the one-particle's quantum mechanics and the many-particle's quantum field theory. The explicit result presented here is useful for the investigation of spin-3/2 field in various circumstances such as supergravity, twistor programme, Casimir effect, and quantum inequality.


2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (16) ◽  
pp. 1750094 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. C. Ulhoa ◽  
A. F. Santos ◽  
Faqir C. Khanna

The Galilean covariance, formulated in 5-dimensions space, describes the nonrelativistic physics in a way similar to a Lorentz covariant quantum field theory being considered for relativistic physics. Using a nonrelativistic approach the Stefan–Boltzmann law and the Casimir effect at finite temperature for a particle with spin zero and 1/2 are calculated. The thermo field dynamics is used to include the finite temperature effects.


1989 ◽  
Vol 01 (01) ◽  
pp. 113-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. ELIZALDE ◽  
A. ROMEO

We study expressions for the regularization of general multidimensional Epstein zeta-functions of the type [Formula: see text] After reviewing some classical results in the light of the extended proof of zeta-function regularization recently obtained by the authors, approximate but very quickly convergent expressions for these functions are derived. This type of analysis has many interesting applications, e.g. in any quantum field theory defined in a partially compactified Euclidean spacetime or at finite temperature. As an example, we obtain the partition function for the Casimir effect at finite temperature.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Damiano Anselmi

Abstract We prove spectral optical identities in quantum field theories of physical particles (defined by the Feynman iϵ prescription) and purely virtual particles (defined by the fakeon prescription). The identities are derived by means of purely algebraic operations and hold for every (multi)threshold separately and for arbitrary frequencies. Their major significance is that they offer a deeper understanding on the problem of unitarity in quantum field theory. In particular, they apply to “skeleton” diagrams, before integrating on the space components of the loop momenta and the phase spaces. In turn, the skeleton diagrams obey a spectral optical theorem, which gives the usual optical theorem for amplitudes, once the integrals on the space components of the loop momenta and the phase spaces are restored. The fakeon prescription/projection is implemented by dropping the thresholds that involve fakeon frequencies. We give examples at one loop (bubble, triangle, box, pentagon and hexagon), two loops (triangle with “diagonal”, box with diagonal) and arbitrarily many loops. We also derive formulas for the loop integrals with fakeons and relate them to the known formulas for the loop integrals with physical particles.


Author(s):  
Daniele Colosi ◽  
◽  
Robert Oeckl ◽  
◽  
◽  
...  

We extend the framework of general boundary quantum field theory (GBQFT) to achieve a fully local description of realistic quantum field theories. This requires the quantization of non-Kähler polarizations which occur generically on timelike hypersurfaces in Lorentzian spacetimes as has been shown recently. We achieve this in two ways: On the one hand we replace Hilbert space states by observables localized on hypersurfaces, in the spirit of algebraic quantum field theory. On the other hand we apply the GNS construction to twisted star-structures to obtain Hilbert spaces, motivated by the notion of reflection positivity of the Euclidean approach to quantum field theory. As one consequence, the well-known representation of a vacuum state in terms of a sea of particle pairs in the Hilbert space of another vacuum admits a vast generalization to non-Kähler vacua, particularly relevant on timelike hypersurfaces.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 497-522
Author(s):  
Hanjo Berressem

While most new materialists, including Thomas Nail, tend to distance themselves from Deleuze, this essay reads the encounter of Nail's ‘process materialism’ and Deleuzian philosophy as productive rather than contentious. After tracing the affinities of their notions of continuity and discontinuity by way of Deleuze's The Fold: Leibniz and the Baroque and Nail's Lucretius I: An Ontology of Motion and Being and Motion, the essay considers Nail's unfolding of Lucretius’ luminous philosophy in relation to Deleuze's reading of Lucretius from within Deleuze's own ‘philosophical luminism’. Within the multiple overlaps between Nail and Deleuze, particularly vis-à-vis quantum physics and quantum field theory, their divergent readings of the particle–wave duality bring about a productive conceptual tension. Nail's argument about the ontological precedence of waves over particles (‘process precedes existence’) is illuminated by Deleuze's concept of their ontological complementarity (actual particles and virtual waves, virtual particles and actual waves), and vice versa.


2012 ◽  
Vol 27 (32) ◽  
pp. 1250186 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROBERTO CASADIO

We propose to include gravity in quantum field theory nonperturbatively, by modifying the propagators so that each virtual particle in a Feynman graph move in the space–time determined by the four-momenta of the other particles in the same graph. By making additional working assumptions, we are able to put this idea at work in a simplified context, and obtain a modified Feynman propagator for the massless neutral scalar field. Our expression shows a suppression at high momentum, strong enough to entail finite results, to all loop orders, for processes involving at least two virtual particles.


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