October 30, 2009
In research articles and patents several methods have been proposed for the extraction of zero-point energy from the vacuum. None of the proposals have been reliably demonstrated, yet they remain largely unchallenged. In this paper the underlying thermodynamics principles of equilibrium, detailed balance, and conservation laws are presented for zero-point energy extraction. The proposed methods are separated into three classes: nonlinear processing of the zero-point field, mechanical extraction using Casimir cavities, and the pumping of atoms through Casimir cavities. The first two approaches are shown to violate thermodynamics principles, and therefore appear not to be feasible, no matter how innovative their execution. The third approach, based upon stochastic electrodynamics, does not appear to violate these principles, but may face other obstacles. Initial experimental results are tantalizing but, given the lower than expected power output, inconclusive.
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Zero-point energy is generally known to be unphysical. Casimir effect, however, is often presented as a counterexample, giving rise to a conceptual confusion. To resolve the confusion we study foundational aspects of Casimir effect at a qualitative level, but also at a quantitative level within a simple toy model with only 3 degrees of freedom. In particular, we point out that Casimir vacuum is not a state without photons, and not a ground state for a Hamiltonian that can des...
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An extension of the fundamental laws of thermodynamics and of the concept of entropy to the ground state fluctuations of the quantum fields is studied and some new results are found. At the end a device to extract energy from the vacuum recently proposed by an author is critically analyzed. It is found that no energy can be extracted cyclically from the vacuum.
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It has been argued since 1948, when it was experimentally demonstrated, that the Casimir effect-where two non-charged conducting plates have a weak but measurable force on each other dependent on the inverse fourth power of the distance between them-shows the reality of vacuum zero-point fluctuations. This "proof" of the reality of vacuum fluctuations has been repeated in many quantum field theory books and papers subsequent to 1948. The attractive force is generally ascribed...
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This approach to the incorporation of stochastic thermodynamics into quantum theory is based on the conception of consistent inclusion of the holistic stochastic environmental influence described by wave functions of the arbitrary vacuum, which was proposed in our paper previously. In this study, we implement the possibility of explicitly incorporating the zeroth law of stochastic thermodynamics in the form of the saturated Schr\"odinger uncertainty relation into quantum th...
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There appears to be three, perhaps related, ways of approaching the nature of vacuum energy . The first is to say that it is just the lowest energy state of a given, usually quantum, system. The second is to equate vacuum energy with the Casimir energy. The third is to note that an energy difference from a complete vacuum might have some long range effect, typically this energy difference is interpreted as the cosmological constant. All three approaches are reviewed, with an ...