Quantum Vacuum: How To Balance Nothingness
Sunday, October 30, 2011 - 12:40
in Physics & Chemistry
What is nothingness? It's a philosophical question, to be sure, but in physics the ground state of the universe can't be described by the absence of all matter, contend some theoretical physicists. There must be a 'quantum vacuum'.The first theoretical consideration of the spontaneous decay of the quantum vacuum, believed to be a complex state of constantly fluctuating quantum fields with physical properties, dates back to the year 1931, but understanding is still in its infancy.But it could soon happen that experimentalists are able to witness the spontaneous decay of the vacuum into pairs of particles of matter and antimatter in super strong electric fields. read more