Open Questions: The Vacuum
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See also: Higgs physics --
Expansion of the universe, dark energy, quintessence --
The cosmological constant
-
Vacuum energy
- Article from
Wikipedia.
See also
virtual particle.
-
Vacuum as Seen from Moscow
- Slide presentation given by Lev Okun at the
2001: A Spacetime Odyssey conference.
-
What is the 'zero-point energy' (or 'vacuum energy') in
quantum physics?
- July 1997 question and answer from Scientific American's
Ask the Experts section. There is an additional answer
here.
- The Classical Vacuum
Timothy H. Boyer
Scientific American, August 1985, pp. 70-78
- Experiments that measure the Casimir effect in a vacuum at
near absolute zero indicate that the classical vacuum is not
empty even in the absence of matter and thermal ratiation. The
residual effect is known as classical electromagnetic zero-point
radiation. The condition of Lorentz invariance determines the
properties of the zero-point spectrum.
- Sten F. Odenwald -- Patterns in the Void: Why Nothing is
Important
Westview Press, 2002
- Odenwald's book is somewhat lightweight with a bit too
much chit-chat of history, anecdote, and philosophy. But it does
manage to talk about the vacuum, its properties, and its
importance, despite the digressions into many other topics
in cosmology and physics. The digressions may even be of
interest if you haven't encountered them before.
- John D. Barrow – The Book of Nothing: Vacuums, Voids,
and the Latest Ideas about the Origins of the Universe
Pantheon Books, 2000
- This is another book that wastes too much time with sententious
ramblings about zero and philosophical bloviatings about voids
and emptiness. It is further marred with excursions into
theological gobbledygook. However, perhaps half of the book
contains useful introductions to the quantum physics of
the vacuum state and the role is plays in cosmology.
- K. C. Cole -- The Hole in the Universe: How Scientists Peered
over the Edge of Emptiness and Found Everything
Harcourt, Inc., 2000
- The main subject of Cole's book is the vacuum and all of the
phenomena which arise from (supposedly) "empty" space. Topics
range over almost everything in high-energy physics and cosmology,
from black holes to the cosmological constant to pea
instantons. However, the level of presentation throughout is
elementary.
- Hening Genz -- Nothingness: The Science of Empty Space
Perseus Books, 1999
- The book begins with an overly long history of "nothing". It
very gradually picks up speed towards the end, where the interesting
topics like Goldstone's theorem, the cosmological constant,
inflation, and other cosmological concepts put in a brief
appearance.
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Copyright © 2002 by Charles Daney, All Rights Reserved