dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaWill small particles exhibit Brownian motion in the quantum vacuum?
| Authors | Gilad Gour, L. Sriramkumar |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | quant-ph/9808032 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9808032 |
| Journal | Found.Phys. 29 (1999) 1917-1949 |
Abstract
The Brownian motion of small particles interacting with a field at a finite temperature is a well-known and well-understood phenomenon. At zero temperature, even though the thermal fluctuations are absent, quantum fields still possess vacuum fluctuations. It is then interesting to ask whether a small particle that is interacting with a quantum field will exhibit Brownian motion when the quantum field is assumed to be in the vacuum state. In this paper, we study the cases of a small charge and an imperfect mirror interacting with a quantum scalar field in (1+1) dimensions. Treating the quantum field as a classical stochastic variable, we write down a Langevin equation for the particles. We show that the results we obtain from such an approach agree with the results obtained from the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. Unlike the finite temperature case, there exists no special frame of reference at zero temperature and hence it is essential that the particles do not break Lorentz invariance. We find that that the scalar charge breaks Lorentz invariance, whereas the imperfect mirror does not. We conclude that small particles such as the imperfect mirror {\it will} exhibit Brownian motion even in the quantum vacuum, but this effect can be so small that it may prove to be difficult to observe it experimentally.
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"abstract": "The Brownian motion of small particles interacting with a field at a finite\ntemperature is a well-known and well-understood phenomenon. At zero\ntemperature, even though the thermal fluctuations are absent, quantum fields\nstill possess vacuum fluctuations. It is then interesting to ask whether a\nsmall particle that is interacting with a quantum field will exhibit Brownian\nmotion when the quantum field is assumed to be in the vacuum state. In this\npaper, we study the cases of a small charge and an imperfect mirror interacting\nwith a quantum scalar field in (1+1) dimensions. Treating the quantum field as\na classical stochastic variable, we write down a Langevin equation for the\nparticles. We show that the results we obtain from such an approach agree with\nthe results obtained from the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. Unlike the\nfinite temperature case, there exists no special frame of reference at zero\ntemperature and hence it is essential that the particles do not break Lorentz\ninvariance. We find that that the scalar charge breaks Lorentz invariance,\nwhereas the imperfect mirror does not. We conclude that small particles such as\nthe imperfect mirror {\\it will} exhibit Brownian motion even in the quantum\nvacuum, but this effect can be so small that it may prove to be difficult to\nobserve it experimentally.",
"arxiv_id": "quant-ph/9808032",
"authors": [
"Gilad Gour",
"L. Sriramkumar"
],
"categories": [
"quant-ph",
"gr-qc"
],
"journal_ref": "Found.Phys. 29 (1999) 1917-1949",
"title": "Will small particles exhibit Brownian motion in the quantum vacuum?",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9808032"
},
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