dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaSonoluminescence as a QED vacuum effect. I: The Physical Scenario
| Authors | Stefano Liberati, Matt Visser, Francesco Belgiorno, Dennis Sciama |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | quant-ph/9904013 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9904013 |
| DOI | 10.1103/PhysRevD.61.085023 |
| Journal | Phys.Rev. D61 (2000) 085023 |
Abstract
Several years ago Schwinger proposed a physical mechanism for sonoluminescence in terms of changes in the properties of the quantum-electrodynamic (QED) vacuum state. This mechanism is most often phrased in terms of changes in the Casimir Energy: changes in the distribution of zero-point energies and has recently been the subject of considerable controversy. The present paper further develops this quantum-vacuum approach to sonoluminescence: We calculate Bogolubov coefficients relating the QED vacuum states in the presence of a homogeneous medium of changing dielectric constant. In this way we derive an estimate for the spectrum, number of photons, and total energy emitted. We emphasize the importance of rapid spatio-temporal changes in refractive indices, and the delicate sensitivity of the emitted radiation to the precise dependence of the refractive index as a function of wavenumber, pressure, temperature, and noble gas admixture. Although the physics of the dynamical Casimir effect is a universal phenomenon of QED, specific experimental features are encoded in the condensed matter physics controlling the details of the refractive index. This calculation places rather tight constraints on the possibility of using the dynamical Casimir effect as an explanation for sonoluminescence, and we are hopeful that this scenario will soon be amenable to direct experimental probes. In a companion paper we discuss the technical complications due to finite-size effects, but for reasons of clarity in this paper we confine attention to bulk effects.
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"abstract": "Several years ago Schwinger proposed a physical mechanism for\nsonoluminescence in terms of changes in the properties of the\nquantum-electrodynamic (QED) vacuum state. This mechanism is most often phrased\nin terms of changes in the Casimir Energy: changes in the distribution of\nzero-point energies and has recently been the subject of considerable\ncontroversy. The present paper further develops this quantum-vacuum approach to\nsonoluminescence: We calculate Bogolubov coefficients relating the QED vacuum\nstates in the presence of a homogeneous medium of changing dielectric constant.\nIn this way we derive an estimate for the spectrum, number of photons, and\ntotal energy emitted. We emphasize the importance of rapid spatio-temporal\nchanges in refractive indices, and the delicate sensitivity of the emitted\nradiation to the precise dependence of the refractive index as a function of\nwavenumber, pressure, temperature, and noble gas admixture. Although the\nphysics of the dynamical Casimir effect is a universal phenomenon of QED,\nspecific experimental features are encoded in the condensed matter physics\ncontrolling the details of the refractive index. This calculation places rather\ntight constraints on the possibility of using the dynamical Casimir effect as\nan explanation for sonoluminescence, and we are hopeful that this scenario will\nsoon be amenable to direct experimental probes. In a companion paper we discuss\nthe technical complications due to finite-size effects, but for reasons of\nclarity in this paper we confine attention to bulk effects.",
"arxiv_id": "quant-ph/9904013",
"authors": [
"Stefano Liberati",
"Matt Visser",
"Francesco Belgiorno",
"Dennis Sciama"
],
"categories": [
"quant-ph",
"cond-mat",
"hep-ph",
"hep-th"
],
"doi": "10.1103/PhysRevD.61.085023",
"journal_ref": "Phys.Rev. D61 (2000) 085023",
"title": "Sonoluminescence as a QED vacuum effect. I: The Physical Scenario",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9904013"
},
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