학술논문

The quantum vacuum as the origin of the speed of light
Document Type
Working Paper
Source
Eur. Phys. J. D, 67 3 (2013) 58
Subject
Physics - General Physics
Language
Abstract
We show that the vacuum permeability and permittivity may originate from the magnetization and the polarization of continuously appearing and disappearing fermion pairs. We then show that if we simply model the propagation of the photon in vacuum as a series of transient captures within these ephemeral pairs, we can derive a finite photon velocity. Requiring that this velocity is equal to the speed of light constrains our model of vacuum. Within this approach, the propagation of a photon is a statistical process at scales much larger than the Planck scale. Therefore we expect its time of flight to fluctuate. We propose an experimental test of this prediction.
Comment: 6 pages, Accepted for publication in European Physical Journal D. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1111.1847, arXiv:1106.3996