On Extracting Energy from the Quantum Vacuum

QUANTUM theory predicts that the vacuum of space throughout the universe is filled with electromagnetic waves, random in phase and amplitude, propagating in all possible directions, and with a cubic frequency distribution. This differs from the cosmic microwave background radiation, and is referred to as the electromagnetic quantum vacuum, which is the lowest energy state of otherwise empty space. When integrated over all frequency modes up to the Planck frequency, Vp (~10(43) Hz), it represents an energy density of as much as 10(113) J/m3, which is far in excess of any other known energy source, although only an infinitesimal fraction of it is accessible. Even if we are constrained to integrate over all frequency modes only up to the nucleon Compton frequency (~10(23) Hz, the characteristic frequency associated with the size of nucleons), this energy density is still enormous (~10(35) J/m3). In addition, the electromagnetic quantum vacuum is not alone; it intimately couples to the charged particles in the Dirac sea of virtual particle - antiparticle pairs, and thereby couples to the other interactions inherent in the Standard Model (weak and strong force vacua). Therefore, all the numbers just mentioned are subject to further refinement. However, it should be noted that we can safely ignore any coupling of the quantum electromagnetic vacuum to the quantum chromodynamic (QCD) vacuum in the context of this chapter because the latter coexists in two phases: 1) the ordinary vacuum exterior to the hadron, which is impenetrable to quark color, and 2) the vacuum interior of the hadron in which the Yang - Mills fields that carry color (gluons) propagate freely.