- #1
Aidyan
- 180
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What are quantum "fluctuations"?
We get to know that vacuum is not really empty but that its energy ground state is non zero. Is this what is represented by quantum "fluctuations"? As far as I understand QM this seems to me a very misleading representation of things. If we believe that something is "fluctuating" we imply that there is something with definite properties (say position and momentum) but its values changing quickly in time. I think this is a gross misrepresentation and also against quantum complementarity, which, as I understand it, says that non-commuting observables can't be measured at the same time, i.e. are "non-definite", "indeterminate", "uncertain", or whatever you might call it, but something very different than saying that they are "fluctuating" in time (like Brownian motion or thermal fluctuations). Moreover, if there would be really "fluctuations" a particle like an electron should 'zizzag' throughout space and, being electrically charged, emit continuously radiation, i.e. energy would not be conserved. So, I tend to think that there is nothing such as a "fluctuating" vacuum, but that there are quantum objects which properties (like position, momentum, spin, etc.) have some probability of "actualization" at the time of interaction or measurement. Before that instant there is no fluctuation, but only state of indetermination. The idea to describe vacuum as quantum foam seems to me simply wrong. Can someone please direct me to a document, link, article or whatever that clarifies better this point?
We get to know that vacuum is not really empty but that its energy ground state is non zero. Is this what is represented by quantum "fluctuations"? As far as I understand QM this seems to me a very misleading representation of things. If we believe that something is "fluctuating" we imply that there is something with definite properties (say position and momentum) but its values changing quickly in time. I think this is a gross misrepresentation and also against quantum complementarity, which, as I understand it, says that non-commuting observables can't be measured at the same time, i.e. are "non-definite", "indeterminate", "uncertain", or whatever you might call it, but something very different than saying that they are "fluctuating" in time (like Brownian motion or thermal fluctuations). Moreover, if there would be really "fluctuations" a particle like an electron should 'zizzag' throughout space and, being electrically charged, emit continuously radiation, i.e. energy would not be conserved. So, I tend to think that there is nothing such as a "fluctuating" vacuum, but that there are quantum objects which properties (like position, momentum, spin, etc.) have some probability of "actualization" at the time of interaction or measurement. Before that instant there is no fluctuation, but only state of indetermination. The idea to describe vacuum as quantum foam seems to me simply wrong. Can someone please direct me to a document, link, article or whatever that clarifies better this point?