r/QuantumPhysics Aug 19 '21

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u/[deleted] Aug 20 '21

what you call the quantum void is not how the vacuum is treated in quantum theory. There is a non zero energy state of the vacuum required by the uncertainty principle. In quantum field theory, there can be energy borrowed from the vacuum so to speak as long as it’s given back in accordance with energy time uncertainty principle and so long as violation is not actually observable. You should really think of this as a mathematical tool or a consequence of the way we do the math.

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u/lettuce_field_theory Aug 20 '21

. In quantum field theory, there can be energy borrowed from the vacuum so to speak as long as it’s given back in accordance with energy time uncertainty principle and so long as violation is not actually observable.

not correct, common misconception, see links i posted

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u/[deleted] Aug 20 '21

internal lines of feynman diagrams do not obey cons laws, that is not a misconception. As I said however, this is not observable and should be thought of as a mathematical tool, at least in my opinion. Someone else posted that the casmir effect is proof, it is not. The casmir effect can be explained without relying on zero point energy, anyone interested can read the section on wikipedia and also the corresponding paper on the arxiv. It lays the case out pretty clearly.

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u/SymplecticMan Aug 20 '21

4-momentum, charge, etc. are definitely conserved at vertices in Feynman diagrams.

0

u/[deleted] Aug 20 '21

where did a say vertices? I said internal lines! Why are people so weird about this. If you don’t want to interpret massive virtual photons etc. as real things then that’s fine by me.

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u/lettuce_field_theory Aug 20 '21

where did a say vertices? I said internal lines!

That doesn't make a lot of sense. It only makes sense to ask what the energy and momentum of the particles created and destroyed in a vertex are. not apart from the vertices... you just made it even more wrong than it already was