Vacuum energy and the spacetime index of refraction: A new synthesis

Journal Article · Sun Aug 15 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVD.82.044047· OSTI ID:21420983

Nouri-Zonoz, M ^[1]; Nazari, B ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics, University of Tehran, North Karegar Avenue, Tehran 14395-547 (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

In 1+3 (threading) formulation of general relativity spacetime behaves analogous to a medium with a specific index of refraction with respect to the light propagation. Accepting the reality of zero-point energy, through the equivalence principle, we elevate this analogy to the case of virtual photon propagation in a quantum vacuum in a curved background spacetime. Employing this new idea (conjecture) one could examine the response of vacuum energy to the presence of a weak stationary gravitational field in its different quantum field theoretic manifestations such as Casimir effect and Lamb shift. As an evidence in favor of the proposed conjecture, employing quantum field theory in curved spacetime, we explicitly calculate the effect of a weak static gravitational field on virtual massless scalar particles in a Casimir apparatus. It is shown that, as expected from the proposed conjecture, both the frequency and renormalized energy of the virtual scalar field are affected by the gravitational field through its index of refraction. Generalizations to weak stationary spacetimes and virtual photons are also discussed.

• OSTI ID: 21420983
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Vol. 82, Issue 4; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.82.044047; (c) 2010 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
CASIMIR EFFECT
EQUIVALENCE PRINCIPLE
GENERAL RELATIVITY THEORY
GRAVITATIONAL FIELDS
LAMB SHIFT
LIGHT TRANSMISSION
PHOTONS
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
REFRACTIVE INDEX
SCALAR FIELDS
SPACE-TIME
BOSONS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
FIELD THEORIES
MASSLESS PARTICLES
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
RELATIVITY THEORY
SPECTRAL SHIFT
TRANSMISSION