Two newly published studies challenge established wisdom about the nature of vacuum, finding that ephemeral vacuum particles induce speed-of-light fluctuations.
In one paper,[1] Marcel Urban from the University of Paris-Sud, located in Orsay, France and his colleagues identified a quantum level mechanism for interpreting vacuum as being filled with pairs of virtual particles with fluctuating energy values. As a result, the inherent characteristics of vacuum, like the speed of light, may not be a constant after all, but fluctuate.
Meanwhile, in another study,[2] Gerd Leuchs and Luis L. Sánchez-Soto, from the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Light in Erlangen, Germany, suggest that physical constants, such as the speed of light and the so-called impedance of free space, are indications of the total number of elementary particles in nature.
Vacuum is one of the most intriguing concepts in physics. When observed at the quantum level, vacuum is not empty. It is filled with continuously appearing and disappearing particle pairs such as electron-positron or quark-antiquark pairs. These ephemeral particles are real particles, but their lifetimes are extremely short.
In their study, Urban and colleagues established, for the first time, a detailed quantum mechanism that would explain the magnetization and polarization of the vacuum, referred to as vacuum permeability and permittivity, and the finite speed of light. This finding is relevant because it suggests the existence of a limited number of ephemeral particles per unit volume in a vacuum. As a result, there is a theoretical possibility that the speed of light is not fixed, as conventional physics has assumed. But it could fluctuate at a level independent of the energy of each light quantum, or photon, and greater than fluctuations induced by quantum level gravity. The speed of light would be dependent on variations in the vacuum properties of space or time. The fluctuations of the photon propagation time are estimated to be on the order of 50 attoseconds per square meter of crossed vacuum, which might be testable with the help of new ultra-fast lasers.
Leuchs and Sanchez-Soto, on the other hand, modeled virtual charged particle pairs as electric dipoles responsible for the polarization of the vacuum. They found that a specific property of vacuum called the impedance, which is crucial to determining the speed of light, depends only on the sum of the square of the electric charges of particles but not on their masses. If their idea is correct, the value of the speed of light combined with the value of vacuum impedance gives an indication of the total number of charged elementary particles existing in nature. Experimental results support this hypothesis.
References:
- “The quantum vacuum as the origin of the speed of light” by Marcel Urban, François Couchot, Xavier Sarazin and Arache Djannati-Atai, 21 March 2013, The European Physical Journal D.
DOI: 10.1140/epjd/e2013-30578-7 - “A sum rule for charged elementary particles” by Gerd Leuchs and Luis L. Sánchez-Soto, 21 March 2013, The European Physical Journal D.
DOI: 10.1140/epjd/e2013-30577-8
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4 Comments
Tetryonics is the key ladies and gentlemen. We’ll be seeing you soon I’m sure…
Take your esoteric stuff to people who are too dumb to see behind the curtains of mind blurring you pretend to tear open, Mr. Tetris-onics.
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As far as I read about quantum fluctuation in vacuum it is a statistical result of heisenberg properties. Is the energy measurable that should result from ultra short lived matter-antimatter reactions or is this simply a mathematical prediction taken one step further? “If we’re right about paired subparticles in vacuum then this should be valid”…?
Well stated, Thorsten Schocke! Obviously no, ‘Pulling the Wool’ over your eyes!
The only thing I disagree with in your statement is your reference to, Matter/Anti-Matter. The reason I make the statement is because I don’t believe such particles as; ‘Bosons’ (Higgs)exist, which of course carries the implication that neither does, ‘Matter’ (in my view).
The casimir effect evidence for a 5th unknown energy implies quantum fluxations exist. This is the energy source for the zero point energy devices suppressed by the Super-Rich overlords.