Paving Through the Vacuum

Using the model in which the vacuum is filled with virtual fermion pairs we propose an effective description of photon propagation compatible with the wave-particle duality and the quantum field theory. In this model the origin of the vacuum permittivity and permeability appear naturally in the statistical description of the gas of the virtual pairs. Assuming virtual gas in thermal equilibrium at temperature corresponding to the Higgs field vacuum expectation value, \(kT\approx246.22\, \rm{GeV}\), the deduced value of the vacuum magnetic permeability (magnetic constant) appears on the same order of the experimental value. One of the features that makes this model attractive is the expected fluctuation of the speed of light propagation that is at the level of \(\sigma\approx 1.9\,\mathrm{as\,m}^{-1/2}\). This non-classical light propagation property is reachable with the available technologies.