Quantum vacuum noise in physics and cosmology

The concept of the vacuum in quantum field theory is a subtle one. Vacuum states have a rich and complex set of properties that produce distinctive, though usually exceedingly small, physical effects. Quantum vacuum noise is familiar in optical and electronic devices, but in this paper I wish to consider extending the discussion to systems in which gravitation, or large accelerations, are important. This leads to the prediction of vacuum friction: The quantum vacuum can act in a manner reminiscent of a viscous fluid. One result is that rapidly changing gravitational fields can create particles from the vacuum, and in turn the backreaction on the gravitational dynamics operates like a damping force. I consider such effects in early universe cosmology and the theory of quantum black holes, including the possibility that the large-scale structure of the universe might be produced by quantum vacuum noise in an early inflationary phase. I also discuss the curious phenomenon that an observer who accelerates through a quantum vacuum perceives a bath of thermal radiation closely analogous to Hawking radiation from black holes, even though an inertial observer registers no particles. The effects predicted raise very deep and unresolved issues about the nature of quantum particles, the role of the observer, and the relationship between the quantum vacuum and the concepts of information and entropy. (c) 2001 American Institute of Physics.     

Two-dimensional atom localization induced by a squeezed vacuum

A scheme of two-dimensional(2D) atom localization induced by a squeezed vacuum is proposed, in which the threelevel V-type atoms interact with two classical standing-wave fields. It is found that when the environment is changed from an ordinary vacuum to a squeezed vacuum, the 2D atom localization is realized by detecting the position-dependent resonance fluorescence spectrum. For comparison, we demonstrate that the atom localization originating from the quantum interference effect is distinct from that induced by a squeezed vacuum. Furthermore, the combined effects of the squeezed vacuum and quantum interference are also discussed under appropriate conditions. The internal physical mechanism is analyzed in terms of dressed-state representation.     

Photon acceleration in vacuum

A new process associated with the nonlinear optical properties of the electromagnetic vacuum, as predicted by quantum electrodynamics, is described. This can be called photon acceleration in vacuum, and corresponds to the frequency shift that takes place when a given test photon interacts with an intense beam of background radiation.     

Rotational quantum friction in superfluids: Radiation from object rotating in superfluid vacuum

The friction experienced by a body rotating in a superfluid liquid at T=0 is discussed. The effect is analogous to the amplification of electromagnetic radiation and spontaneous emission by a body or black hole rotating in the quantum vacuum, first discussed by Zel’dovich and Starobinsky. The friction is caused by the interaction of the part of the liquid which is rigidly connected with the rotating body and thus represents a comoving detector, with the “Minkowski” superfluid vacuum outside the body. The emission process is the quantum tunneling of quasiparticles from the detector to the ergoregion, where the energy of quasiparticles is negative in the rotating frame. This quantum rotational friction caused by the emission of quasiparticles is estimated for phonons and rotons in superfluid ⁴He and for Bogoliubov fermions in superfluid ³He. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 69, No. 4, 257–262 (25 February 1999) Published in English in the original Russian journal. Edited by Steve Torstveit.     

Polymers in a vacuum

In a variety of situations, isolated polymer molecules are found in a vacuum, and here we examine their properties. Angular momentum conservation is shown to significantly alter the average size of a chain and its conservation is only broken slowly by thermal radiation. For an ideal chain, the time autocorrelation for monomer position oscillates with a period proportional to chain length. The oscillations and damping are analyzed in detail. Short-range repulsive interactions suppress oscillations and speed up relaxation, but stretched chains still show damped oscillatory correlations.     

Visible-laser acceleration of relativistic electrons in a semi-infinite vacuum

We demonstrate a new particle acceleration mechanism using 800 nm laser radiation to accelerate relativistic electrons in a semi-infinite vacuum. The experimental demonstration is the first of its kind and is a proof of principle for the concept of laser-driven particle acceleration in a structure loaded vacuum. We observed up to 30 keV energy modulation over a distance of 1000 lambda, corresponding to a 40 MeV/m peak gradient. The energy modulation was observed to scale linearly with the laser electric field and showed the expected laser-polarization dependence. Furthermore, as expected, laser acceleration occurred only in the presence of a boundary that limited the laser-electron interaction to a finite distance.     

Spontaneous excitation of a circularly accelerated atom coupled to electromagnetic vacuum fluctuations

We study, using the formalism proposed by Dalibard, Dupont-Roc and Cohen-Tannoudji, the contributions of the vacuum fluctuation and radiation reaction to the rate of change of the mean atomic energy for a circularly accelerated multilevel atom coupled to vacuum electromagnetic fields in the ultrarelativistic limit. We find that the balance between vacuum fluctuation and radiation reaction is broken, which causes spontaneous excitations of accelerated ground state atoms in vacuum. Unlike for a circularly accelerated atom coupled to vacuum scalar fields, the contribution of radiation reaction is also affected by acceleration, and this term takes the same form as that of a linearly accelerated atom coupled to vacuum electromagnetic fields. For the contribution of vacuum fluctuations, we find that in contrast to the linear acceleration case, terms proportional to the Planckian factor are replaced by those proportional to a non-Planck exponential term, and this indicates that the radiation perceived by a circularly orbiting observer is no longer thermal as is in the linear acceleration case. However, for an ensemble of two-level atoms, an effective temperature can be defined in terms of the atomic transition rates, which is found to be dependent on the transition frequency of the atom. Specifically, we calculate the effective temperature as a function of the transition frequency and find that in contrast to the case of circularly accelerated atoms coupled to the scalar field, the effective temperature in the current case is always larger than the Unruh temperature.     

Coupled-resonator-induced transparency with a squeezed vacuum

We present the first experimental observation of quantum fluctuation spectra in two coupled optical cavities with an injected squeezed vacuum light. The quadrature components of the reflected squeezed vacuum spectra are measured by phase-sensitive homodyne detector. The experimental results demonstrate coupled-resonator-induced transparency in the quantum regime, in which the electromagnetically-induced-transparency-like characteristic of the absorption and dispersion properties of the coupled optical cavities determines the line shape of the reflected quantum noise spectra.     

Maxwell electrodynamics subjected to quantum vacuum fluctuations

The propagation of electromagnetic waves in the vacuum is considered taking into account quantum fluctuations in the limits of Maxwell-Langevin (ML) equations. For a model of “white noise” fluctuations, using ML equations, a second order partial differential equation is found which describes the quantum distribution of virtual particles in vacuum. It is proved that in order to satisfy observed facts, the Lamb Shift etc, the virtual particles should be quantized in unperturbed vacuum. It is shown that the quantized virtual particles in toto (approximately 86 percent) are condensed on the “ground state” energy level. It is proved that the extension of Maxwell electrodynamics with inclusion of the vacuum quantum field fluctuations may be constructed on a 6D space-time continuum with a 2D compactified subspace. Their influence on the refraction indexes of vacuum is studied.     

Investigations into quantum correlation of coupled qubits in a squeezed vacuum reservoir

In this paper,we investigate the quantum correlation of coupled qubits which are initially in maximally entangled mixed states in a squeezed vacuum reservoir.We compare and analyze the effects of squeezed parameters on quantum discord and quantum concurrence.The results show that in a squeezed vacuum reservoir,the quantum discord and quantum concurrence perform with completely opposite behaviors with the change of squeezed parameters.Quantum discord survives longer with the increase of squeezed amplitude parameter,but entanglement death is faster on the contrary.The results also indicate that the classical correlation of the system is smaller than quantum discord in a vacuum reservoir,while it is bigger than quantum discord in a squeezed vacuum reservoir.The quantum discord and classical correlation are more robust than quantum concurrence in the two reservoir environments,which indicates that the entanglement actually is easily affected by decoherence and quantum discord has a stronger ability to avoid decoherence in a squeezed vacuum reservoir.     

Anisotropic distribution of quantum‐vacuum momentum density in a moving electromagnetic medium

An isotropic electromagnetic medium becomes gyrotropically anisotropic when it moves, and an anisotropic electromagnetic environment can then be created in this motion‐induced anisotropic medium. One of the most remarkable features is that the quantum vacuum in the anisotropic electromagnetic environment exhibits a nonzero electromagnetic momentum density, since the universal symmetry of the vacuum fluctuation field is broken, and the anisotropic quantum vacuum mode structure is produced because of the symmetry breaking. This would give rise to a noncompensation effect among the four vacuum eigenmodes (i.e., the forward and backward propagating modes as well as their respective mutually perpendicular polarized components), and leads to an anisotropic correction to the vacuum momentum in the moving medium. The physical significance and the potential applications of the anisotropic quantum vacuum are discussed. This quantum‐vacuum effect may be used to develop sensitive sensor techniques and to design new quantum optical and photonic devices.     

Detectability of dissipative motion in quantum vacuum via superradiance

We propose an experiment for generating and detecting vacuum-induced dissipative motion. A high frequency mechanical resonator driven in resonance is expected to dissipate mechanical energy in quantum vacuum via photon emission. The photons are stored in a high quality electromagnetic cavity and detected through their interaction with ultracold alkali-metal atoms prepared in an inverted population of hyperfine states. Superradiant amplification of the generated photons results in a detectable radio-frequency signal temporally distinguishable from the expected background.     

Friedmann cosmology with decaying vacuum density

Among the several proposals to solve the incompatibility between the observed small value of the cosmological constant and the huge value obtained by quantum field theories, we can find the idea of a decaying vacuum energy density, leading from high values at early times of universe evolution to the small value observed nowadays. In this paper we consider a variation law for the vacuum density recently proposed by Schützhold on the basis of quantum field estimations in the curved, expanding background, characterized by a vacuum density proportional to the Hubble parameter. We show that, in the context of an isotropic and homogeneous, spatially flat model, the corresponding solutions retain the well established features of the standard cosmology, and, in addition, are in accordance with the observed cosmological parameters. Our scenario presents an initial phase dominated by radiation, followed by a dust era long enough to permit structure formation, and by an epoch dominated by the cosmological term, which tends asymptotically to a de Sitter universe. Taking the matter density equals to half of the vacuum energy density, as suggested by observation, we obtain a universe age given by Ht = 1.1, and a decelerating parameter equals to −1/2.     

Quantum vacuum fluctuations

The existence of irreducible field fluctuations in vacuum is an important prediction of quantum theory. These fluctuations have many observable consequences, like the Casimir effect, which is now measured with good accuracy and agreement with theory, provided that the latter accounts for differences between real experiments and the ideal situation considered by Casimir. But the vacuum energy density calculated by adding field mode energies is much larger than the density observed around us through gravitational phenomena. This ‘vacuum catastrophe’ is one of the unsolved problems at the interface between quantum theory on one hand, inertial and gravitational phenomena on the other hand. It is however possible to put properly formulated questions in the vicinity of this paradox. These questions are directly connected to observable effects bearing upon the principle of relativity of motion in quantum vacuum.     

The high-power sliding-spark capillary discharge in vacuum: Variations and applications

High-power sliding-spark capillary discharges in vacuum may be operated so as to obtain soft x-ray radiation that is dominated by either line emission or continuum emission. In the latter case, black-body emission is obtainable with emission efficiencies exceeding 30% of input power. Adjustments in the spectral output of the discharge are achievable either with a conically tapered capillary or with electron-beam assisted heating of the discharge. Such devices are useful for high-resolution contact microscopy of wet, unstained, thin biological samples as well as for lithography.     

Spontaneous emission coupling factors in planar micro-cavity lasers with distributed Bragg reflectors

In this article, a considerable value of spontaneous emission factor is estimated based on the spontaneous emission radiation patterns in micro-cavity lasers. After the spontaneous emission for a dipole in the micro-cavity is studied, the confinements of vacuum fields and electrons are considered together for a quantum well in the micro-cavity laser. The TE mode and TM mode spontaneous emission spectra are presented for a single quantum well embedded in a planar micro-cavity laser at 300 K. The results show that the TE mode spontaneous emission spectrum is enhanced, whereas the TM mode spontaneous emission is suppressed greatly. The maximum values obtained for the spontaneous emission coupling factors are 0.2 and 0.0055 for a dipole and a quantum well planar micro-cavity laser with distributed Bragg reflectors, respectively.     

Coherent control of interference processes in radiative decays

Possibility of coherent control of spontaneous emission from four- and five-level system in the laser radiation field is studied. The four-level system consists of two levels resonantly driven by laser radiation where either of levels may decay to a separate level. For such a system, we show that the presence of the second decay channel may deteriorate the destructive interference occurring in case of one decay channel because of Autler-Townes effect. The five-level diagram represents two two-level resonantly driven systems with the upper levels decaying to a common level. For this diagram, interference between the two decay channels takes place and it is partially or completely destructive or constructive depending on the initial conditions and on the mutual orientation of the transition dipole moments. It is shown that population transfer takes place by the same quantum vacuum via spontaneous emission. The populations are shown to have damping oscillatory nature.     

Quantum entanglement in the system of two two-level atoms interacting with a single-mode vacuum field

The entanglement properties of the system of two two-level atoms interacting with a single-mode vacuum field are explored. The quantum entanglement between two two-level atoms and a single-mode vacuum field is investigated by using the quantum reduced entropy; the quantum entanglement between two two-level atoms, and that between a single two-level atom and a single-mode vacuum field are studied in terms of the quantum relative entropy. The influences of the atomic dipole--dipole interaction on the quantum entanglement of the system are also discussed. Our results show that three entangled states of two atoms--field, atom--atom, and atom--field can be prepared via two two-level atoms interacting with a single-mode vacuum field.     

GaN真空面电子源光电发射机理研究

采用Cs源持续、O源断续的交替方法成功激活了GaN光电阴极,原位测试了透射模式下的光谱响应曲线,获得了透射模式下高达13%的量子效率.从一维定态薛定谔方程入手,得到了GaN真空面电子源材料的电子透射系数的表达式.对于一定形状的阴极表面势垒,电子透射系数决定于入射电子能量、表面势垒的高度和宽度.根据具有负电子亲和势(NEA)特性的透射式GaN光电阴极的能带及Cs,O覆盖过程中阴极表面势垒的变化情况,结合双偶极层[CaN(Mg):Cs]:O-Cs表面模型,分析了GaN真空面电子源材料NEA特性的形成原因.研究表明:Cs,O激活过程中形成的双偶极层对电子逸出起促进作用,双偶极层的形成是材料表面真空能级下降的原因. 关键词： GaN 电子源 透射系数 双偶极层     

Optical phonon cascade emission by photoelectrons at a p-GaN (Cs,O)–vacuum interface

It has been experimentally established that the transfer of photoelectrons from the bulk of a p-GaN (Cs,O) photocathode to vacuum is accompanied by the emission of a cascade of optical phonons. In the quantum efficiency spectrum of the p-GaN (Cs,O) photocathode, an exciton peak has been identified, indicating a significant contribution of the electron–hole interaction to the generation of free electrons in heavily doped p-GaN.