A Three-Dimensional Non-Local Quantum Vacuum as the Origin of Photons

A model of a three-dimensional quantum vacuum defined by the processes of creation/annihilation of quanta corresponding to elementary energy density fluctuations is proposed. In it, a photon is not a primary physical reality but emerges itself as a special state of the three-dimensional quantum vacuum. In this model, the three-dimensional quantum vacuum has a ground state which acts as a “cosmic reservoir” of photons, which emits and absorbs photons and Planck’s law of the spectral distribution of the energy radiated by a black body derives from the fundamental processes in the three-dimensional quantum vacuum, in particular, in the context of a quantization volume responsible for the appearance of photons. Finally, the idea of the Lamb shift of hydrogenoid atoms as a phenomenon determined by the ground state of the quantum vacuum which acts as a reservoir of photons is explored.

GENERAL FORMULA FOR THE SECOND VIRIAL COEFFICIENT

A simple derivation is given of the quantum mechanical expression for the second virial coefficient in terms of the scattering phase shifts. The derivation does not require the introduction of a quantization volume and is based on the identity R(z)−R0(z) = R0(z)H1R(z), where R0(z) and R(z) are the resolvent operators corresponding to the unperturbed and total Hamiltonians H0 and H0 + H1 respectively. The derivation is valid in particular for a gas of excitons in a crystal for which the shape of the waves describing the relative motion of two excitons is not spherical, and, in general, varies with varying energy. The validity of the phase shift formula is demonstrated explicitly for this case by considering a quantization volume with a boundary the shape of which varies with the energy in such a way that for each energy the boundary is a surface of constant phase. The density of states prescribed by the phase shift formula is shown to result if the enclosed volume is required to be the same for all energies.