- #1
turbo
Gold Member
- 3,165
- 56
In a post below relating to Hawking radiation, Chronos linked to a page that expressed the existence of virtual pairs as a product of energy and time limited by the Heisenbug uncertainty principle:
[tex]\Delta E\Delta t\geq\frac{\hbar}{2}[/tex]
This simplified view neatly illustrates one of the problems facing the folks who are attempting to reconcile quantum theory with GR. If we model the ZPE field using shorter and shorter time intervals, the permissable energies get higher and higher, leading us to the conclusion that the total energy of the ZPE field is immense. In the GR view of mass/energy equivalence, this energy would cause our universe to collapse to a volume not much larger than the Earth. Clearly, this has not happened. The quantum model of the vacuum is greatly at odds with GR.
What limits the gravitational effect of the ZPE field?
[tex]\Delta E\Delta t\geq\frac{\hbar}{2}[/tex]
This simplified view neatly illustrates one of the problems facing the folks who are attempting to reconcile quantum theory with GR. If we model the ZPE field using shorter and shorter time intervals, the permissable energies get higher and higher, leading us to the conclusion that the total energy of the ZPE field is immense. In the GR view of mass/energy equivalence, this energy would cause our universe to collapse to a volume not much larger than the Earth. Clearly, this has not happened. The quantum model of the vacuum is greatly at odds with GR.
What limits the gravitational effect of the ZPE field?