Can we justify defining the reality of an environment based on our inability to define its reality. 

The uncertainty principal of quantum mechanics tells us that we cannot know or observe the precise amount of energy contained in microscopic physical system over very short intervals of time. 

Some physicists feel that because they cannot observe it in a microscopic system, it must fluctuate around a given point even though that volume is made up of a vacuum.  They call the energy generated by this uncertainty quantum fluctuations or vacuum energy.

However, this means they are defining the reality of a vacuum in terms of their inability to define or observe the "reality" of the energy contain in that vacuum.

We have shown that it is more consistent with observations to define energy including that contained in a vacuum in terms the continuous properties of four *spatial* dimensions instead of four-dimensional space-time.

The observations many physicists associate with quantum fluctuations is one of those observations.

In the article “Why is mass and energy quantized?‘“ Oct. 4, 2007 it was shown that one can explain and predict the quantum properties of mass and energy in terms a resonant system caused by a matter wave moving on a continuous "surface" of a three-dimensional space manifold with respect to a fourth *spatial* dimension.

However, this means one can define the "reality" quantum fluctuations in a vacuum based by extrapolating observations of our three dimensional environment to four spatial dimensions instead of relying, as many physicists seem to on their inability to observe them.

Wikipedia describes the Casimir or the Casimir-Polder force as a physical force arising from a quantized field, which is responsible for zero point or vacuum energy.  The typical example is of two uncharged metallic plates in a vacuum, placed a few micrometers apart, without any external electromagnetic field.  In a classical description, the lack of an external field also means that there is no field between the plates, and no force would be measured between them.  When this field is instead studied using quantum electrodynamics, it is seen that the plates do affect the virtual photons which constitute the field, and generate a net force either an attraction or a repulsion depending on the specific arrangement of the two plates.  This force has been measured, and is a striking example of an effect purely due to second quantization.  However, the treatment of boundary conditions in these calculations has led to some controversy.

Dutch physicists Hendrik B. G. Casimir and Dirk Polder first proposed the existence of the force and formulated an experiment to detect it in 1948 while participating in research at Philips Research Labs.  The classic form of the experiment, described above, successfully demonstrated the force to within 15% of the value predicted by the theory.

Because the strength of the force falls off rapidly with distance, it is only measurable when the distance between the objects is extremely small.  On a sub micrometer scale, this force becomes so strong that it becomes the dominant force between uncharged conductors.  In fact, at separations of 10 nm—about 100 times the typical size of an atom the Casimir effect produces the equivalent of 1 atmosphere of pressure (101.3 kPa), the precise value depending on surface geometry and other factors.

In 1924, Louis de Broglie theorized all particles have a wave component.  His theories were later confirmed in 1927 by Davisson and Germer when they observed that electrons are diffracted by crystals.

Observations of waves in a classical environment indicate the number of simple harmonic oscillators that can be established in a given environment is dependent on the distance or "gap" between the "end points" of their environments.

But same concept can be applied to two uncharged metallic plates in a vacuum, because even without any external electromagnetic field the electromagnetic components of the atoms in each plate are vibrating because if they are not at absolute zero they have thermal energy.  These random vibrations of their electromagnetic components will result in a random electromagnetic field to be generated between the plates.

However, classical wave mechanics tells us these random electromagnetic vibrations would be reinforced at certain points in space.  The number of simple harmonic oscillators or quantum fields in the space between two plates formed by this reinforcing would decreases as the gap between them decreases.  In other words, the smaller the gap between the plates the fewer number of quantum fields or particles that gap could support.

This means as was shown in the article ”Why is mass and energy quantized?“ there will be a greater number simple harmonic oscillators or quantum fields impacting the plates from outside of the gap than between it.  This will cause a force that will push the plates together because the energy density associated with harmonic oscillations outside of the gap would be greater than inside of it.

We know the reality of the wave properties of particles because Davisson and Germer physically measured and observed them.

However, we cannot observe the "reality" of the quantum fluctuations physicists associate with vacuum energy because, as mentioned earlier their existence is based on the fact we cannot observe them.  

This suggests the Casimir effect may not be due to our inability to know the precise "reality" of the amount of energy contained in microscopic physical system but to the physical observable reality of the wave properties of a particle.

However, it also means the "reality" of quantum mechanics could be defined in terms of the reality of classical wave mechanics and the continuous properties of four *spatial* dimensions instead of non "reality" of the uncertainty principal.

It is not be possible to define the wave prosperities of a particle in terms of four-dimensional space-time because it cannot support the bi-directional movement required to explain the transverse wave motion Davisson and Germer observed in electrons.

Later Jeff

The "Shadows" of four spatial dimensions

Copyright Jeffrey O’Callaghan 2009

(In a PDF format)

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