Light Created from a Vacuum

Light Created from a Vacuum

www.sciencedaily.com

Scientists at Chalmers have succeeded in creating light from vacuum -- observing an effect first predicted over 40 years ago. In an innovative experiment, the scientists have managed to capture some of the photons that are constantly appearing and disappearing in the vacuum.

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The experiment is based on one of the most counterintuitive, yet, one of the most important principles in quantum mechanics: that vacuum is by no means empty nothingness.

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In fact, the vacuum is full of various particles that are continuously fluctuating in and out of existence. They appear, exist for a brief moment and then disappear again. Since their existence is so fleeting, they are usually referred to as virtual particles.

Chalmers scientist, Christopher Wilson and his co-workers have succeeded in getting photons to leave their virtual state and become real photons, i.e. measurable light.

To call this experiment "brilliant" is more than a clever pun!

The reality long clung to by past metaphysical thinkers often included the concept that there was no such thing as a vacuum; there was no space that wasn't somehow imbued with an ethereal substance.

Of course, that was not scientific, and since science up until recently seemed unwilling to accept anything it could not directly measure as real; the notion of virtual particles was a real head scratcher for some traditionalists.

Here they have managed to actually detect these particles popping into reality.... from nothing.

In a universe where something can come from nothing... is it really safe to say that we "know" anything for certain?

The scientists find the photons that appear in pairs in the experiment interesting to study in closer detail. They can perhaps be of use in the research field of quantum information, which includes the development of quantum computers.

However, the main value of the experiment is that it increases our understanding of basic physical concepts, such as vacuum fluctuations -- the constant appearance and disappearance of virtual particles in vacuum. It is believed that vacuum fluctuations may have a connection with "dark energy" which drives the accelerated expansion of the universe. The discovery of this acceleration was recognised this year with the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Physics.

Well worth considering ... and expounding on the possibilities...

www.sciencedaily.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Bump.

I think this is good news. Validates what some have always called BS.

this sounds really very very cool, and a link to dark matter and or dark energy would prove extremly useful.

awesome find! S+F

Very cool

Is it safe to say we were created from the vacuum of nothingness? Perhaps the force created from the spinning motion from the vacuum is the creator of atoms?

reply to post by Anoynymoose


The biggest and best question for me about this is: Where do they come from or go to when they are not here?

A bit like how neutrinos can pass through any amount of matter at the speed of (or possibly greater than) light, seemingly completly uninhibited. I dont think they are fully "here" at all.

Vaccuum here doesnt mean the same space time in an overlapping universe for example, is also a vaccuum.

Also if light is a wave and a particle, what medium is it moving through when it is moving through a vaccuum?

Excuse my ignorance... but

They've managed to get those virtual photons to become actual 'real' photons.... at least real enough that they can be measured.

Don't photons have energy? ... and doesn't this mean that energy has been created out of 'nothing'?... ie: It just popped into existance?

Isn't that held to be a complete 'NO NO' in current physics?.... And where does this leave the potential for future 'Zero Point Energy' modules?...One step closer?

reply to post by Maxmars


Well, there is nothing there in terms of actual and stable matter.
However, what there is is the same baseline living river from which all things are a derivative of. While we can interface with certain aspects of Life on deeper and deeper levels, there is certainly a chasm which one cannot pass without unseen wisdom just as the ants cannot pass to other universes without great aid.

Is it really a vacume if there is something in it ... I'm not talking about the photons.

reply to post by Maxmars


You helped me deny a huge ignorance.

Thank you for sending this.

In a universe where something can come from nothing... is it really safe to say that we "know" anything for certain?

I know that Quantom Physics has already helped people who want to deny facts they have found.

Here is my question : " Why are those people in hurry to deny ?"

reply to post by Dagar


Think of Life as Eternal Existence and the Void which we understand to be "nothingness" as an illusion created by the shadows that Life takes. So then, the point is not that this is energy from nothing, but rather, it's a reaching out into the shadows. This process cannot be taken too far before a barrier will be reached which cannot be crossed by anything physical. I am fairly sure, though, that we will be able to see some intensely wonderful things trail off out of our reach and will really irritate those who are tasked with obtaining "more."

reply to post by Maxmars

The reality long clung to by past metaphysical thinkers often included the concept that there was no such thing as a vacuum; there was no space that wasn't somehow imbued with an ethereal substance.

From the article source:

What happens during the experiment is that the "mirror" transfers some of its kinetic energy to virtual photons, which helps them to materialise.

From the abstract:

Here we observe the dynamical Casimir effect in a superconducting circuit consisting of a coplanar transmission line with a tunable electrical length.

Source

Superconducting circuits, high energy experiments, transferring kinetic energy. Not really is it creating light from nowhere as it is transforming one thing into another.

Of course, it makes you think... the same experiment on a large scale... What would happen??

reply to post by Dagar


Now ask how much energy went into getting those virtual photons to hang around long enough to measure them. The energy expended is far greater than that of the photons. Pulling them out of the vacuum, so-to-speak, violates nothing.

'...let there be light, and there was light'

'Light created from a vacuum'

Contrast and compare.

Akushla

My reaction



And then... There was light.

I don't know how significant this part of the article is:

What happens during the experiment is that the "mirror" transfers some of its kinetic energy to virtual photons, which helps them to materialise. According to quantum mechanics, there are many different types of virtual particles in vacuum, as mentioned earlier. Göran Johansson, Associate Professor of Theoretical Physics, explains that the reason why photons appear in the experiment is that they lack mass.

"Relatively little energy is therefore required in order to excite them out of their virtual state. In principle, one could also create other particles from vacuum, such as electrons or protons, but that would require a lot more energy."

That seems as though the experimenters are putting energy into the vacuum, and depending on how much they put in, they could get any kind of particle to come out. Doesn't that mean that they aren't getting energy from nothing and the system is not an energy vacuum?

Please feel free to point out my obvious mistakes, as I know nothing about the sciences.

reply to post by Maxmars


Definitely an awesome find, S&F for you and Chambers!

"The result was that photons appeared in pairs from the vacuum, which we were able to measure in the form of microwave radiation," says Per Delsing. "We were also able to establish that the radiation had precisely the same properties that quantum theory says it should have when photons appear in pairs in this way."

What interests me is the pairing of the photons... interesting how they materialize together, like cutting off a piece or rung of a linked chain. I wonder if aspects of their pairing has anything to do in regards to the vibrational frequency (Billions of vibrations a second, 25% the speed of light they say) used to act as a short-circuit.

When they "mirrored" one for reflection, they succeeded in reflecting it, but did the one immediately following it then collide with the reflected one and stick to it reflect as a the pair?


Interesting stuff!

reply to post by seaez


anyone think of the Double-slit experiment and wave-particle duality when they read the pairs of photons bit

The experiment is based on one of the most counterintuitive, yet, one of the most important principles in quantum mechanics: that vacuum is by no means empty nothingness. In fact, the vacuum is full of various particles that are continuously fluctuating in and out of existence.

Then by definition i's not a vacuum. Next...

reply to post by FOXMULDER147


i think the piont is that there is not such thing as a true vaccuum