Quantum fluctuation

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In quantum physics, a quantum fluctuation (or quantum vacuum fluctuation or vacuum fluctuation) is the
temporary change in the amount of energy in a point in space,[1] as explained in Werner Heisenberg's
uncertainty principle.

This allows the creation of particle-antiparticle pairs of virtual particles. The effects of these particles are
measurable, for example, in the effective charge of the electron, different from its "naked" charge.

Quantum fluctuations may have been very important in the origin of the structure of the universe: according to
the model of inflation the ones that existed when inflation began were amplified and formed the seed of all
current observed structure. Vacuum energy may also be responsible for the current accelerating expansion of
the universe (cosmological constant).

According to one formulation of the principle, energy and time can be related by the relation[2]

In the modern view, energy is always conserved, but because the particle number operator does not commute
with a field's Hamiltonian or energy operator, the field's lowest-energy or ground state, often called the vacuum
state, is not, as one might expect from that name, a state with no particles, but rather a quantum superposition
of particle number eigenstates with 0, 1, 2...etc. particles.

Contents
1 Quantum fluctuations of a field
2 Interpretations
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

Quantum fluctuations of a field

A quantum fluctuation is the temporary appearance of energetic particles out of empty space, as allowed by the
uncertainty principle. The uncertainty principle states that for a pair of conjugate variables such as
position/momentum or energy/time, it is impossible to have a precisely determined value of each member of
the pair at the same time. For example, a particle pair can pop out of the vacuum during a very short time
interval.

An extension is applicable to the "uncertainty in time" and "uncertainty in energy" (including the rest mass
energy ). When the mass is very large like a macroscopic object, the uncertainties and thus the quantum
effect become very small, and classical physics is applicable.

In quantum field theory, fields undergo quantum fluctuations. A reasonably clear distinction can be made
between quantum fluctuations and thermal fluctuations of a quantum field (at least for a free field; for
interacting fields, renormalization substantially complicates matters). For the quantized Klein–Gordon field in
the vacuum state, we can calculate the probability density that we would observe a configuration at a
time in terms of its Fourier transform to be
In contrast, for the classical Klein–Gordon field at non-zero temperature, the Gibbs probability density that we
would observe a configuration at a time is

The amplitude of quantum fluctuations is controlled by Planck's constant , just as the amplitude of thermal
fluctuations is controlled by , where is Boltzmann's constant. Note that the following three points are
closely related:

1. Planck's constant has units of action (joule-seconds) instead of units of energy (joules),
2. the quantum kernel is instead of (the quantum kernel is nonlocal from a
classical heat kernel viewpoint, but it is local in the sense that it does not allow signals to be transmitted),
3. the quantum vacuum state is Lorentz invariant (although not manifestly in the above), whereas the
classical thermal state is not (the classical dynamics is Lorentz invariant, but the Gibbs probability
density is not a Lorentz invariant initial condition).

We can construct a classical continuous random field that has the same probability density as the quantum
vacuum state, so that the principal difference from quantum field theory is the measurement theory
(measurement in quantum theory is different from measurement for a classical continuous random field, in that
classical measurements are always mutually compatible — in quantum mechanical terms they always
commute). Quantum effects that are consequences only of quantum fluctuations, not of subtleties of
measurement incompatibility, can alternatively be models of classical continuous random fields.

In the 1930s, Pascual Jordan knew that a star could equal zero energy because its matter energy was positive
and its gravitational energy was negative and they cancelled each other out. And this led him to speculate what
would prevent a quantum transition from creating a new star. And he had this idea because he was trying to
figure out where matter might come from if we existed in an always-here universe.[3]

In December, 1973, the British scientific journal Nature published an article by Edward P. Tryon titled "Is the
Universe a Vacuum Fluctuation?" In this paper Tryon said our universe may have originated as a quantum
fluctuation of the vacuum.[3] Yet, the idea of our universe coming from a quantum fluctuation or quantum
process was not taken seriously until inflationary theory came and was able to explain how our universe could
inflate from a tiny particle.[4]

Interpretations
The success of quantum fluctuation theories have given way to metaphysical interpretations on the nature of
reality and their potential role in the origin and structure of the universe:

The fluctuations are a manifestation of the innate uncertainty on the quantum level[5]
Fluctuations of the fields in each element of our universe's spacetime could be coherent throughout the
universe by mesoscopic quantum entanglement.

A fundamental particle arising out of its quantum field is always inescapably subject to this reality and is
thus describable by an associated wave function.
The wave function of a quantum particle represents the reality of the innate quantum fluctuations at the
core of the universe and bestows the particle its counter intuitive quantum behavior.
In the double slit experiment each particle makes an unpredictable choice between alternative
possibilities, consistent with an interference pattern with the inherent fluctuations of the underlying
quantum field rendering the electron to do so.[6]
 Such an underlying immutable quantum field by which quantum fluctuations are correlated in a universal
scale may explain the non-locality of quantum entanglement as a natural process[7]

See also
Casimir effect
Cosmic microwave background
Quantum annealing
Quantum foam
Virtual particle
Virtual black hole
Stochastic interpretation
Zitterbewegung

References
1. Browne, Malcolm W. (1990-08-21). "New Direction in Physics: Back in Time" (https://www.nytimes.co
m/1990/08/21/science/new-direction-in-physics-back-in-time.html?pagewanted=all). The New York
Times. Retrieved 2010-05-22. "According to quantum theory, the vacuum contains neither matter nor
energy, but it does contain fluctuations, transitions between something and nothing in which potential
existence can be transformed into real existence by the addition of energy.(Energy and matter are
equivalent, since all matter ultimately consists of packets of energy.) Thus, the vacuum's totally empty
space is actually a seething turmoil of creation and annihilation, which to the ordinary world appears
calm because the scale of fluctuations in the vacuum is tiny and the fluctuations tend to cancel each other
out."
2. Mandelshtam, Leonid; Tamm, Igor (1945), "The uncertainty relation between energy and time in
nonrelativistic quantum mechanics" (http://daarb.narod.ru/mandtamm/index-eng.html), Izv. Akad. Nauk
SSSR (ser. Fiz.), 9: 122–128. English translation: J. Phys. (USSR) 9, 249–254 (1945).
3. Reynosa, Peter. "Why Isn't Edward P. Tryon A World-famous Physicist?" (http://www.huffingtonpost.co
m/peter-reynosa/why-isnt-edward-p-tryon-world-famous_b_9471504.html). Huffington Post. Retrieved
March 22, 2016.
4. Reynosa, Peter. "Some of the Changes Lawrence M. Krauss Should Make to the Second Edition of "A
Universe from Nothing" " (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-reynosa/some-of-the-changes-lawre_b_
9664630.html). Huffington Post. Retrieved April 13, 2016.
5. Kennedy, James (Jim) E. "Nature and Meaning of Information in Physics" (http://science.jeksite.org/info
1/pages/page4.htm). science.jeksite.org. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
6. Mani Lal Bhaumik (4 October 2013). "Comprehending Quantum Theory from Quantum Fields".
arXiv:1310.1251 (https://arxiv.org/abs/1310.1251) [physics.gen-ph (https://arxiv.org/archive/physics.ge
n-ph)].
7. Mani Lal Bhaumik (15 December 2013). "Reality of the wave function and quantum entanglement".
arXiv:1402.4764 (https://arxiv.org/abs/1402.4764) [physics.gen-ph (https://arxiv.org/archive/physics.ge
n-ph)].

External links
Quantum Fluctuation at universe-review.ca

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This page was last edited on 26 July 2017, at 18:11.

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