The first observation of the Dynamical Casimir Effect (DCE) occurred in
Sweden 6 years ago (arxiv.org/abs/1105.4714). It was a complicated
experiment, but one which could lead to a simpler way to see vacuum
energy results which are more even convincing. This assumes that ZPE
conforms to a recent hypothesis.
In a provocative paper (arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0605418) Beck and Mackey
propose that photons of vacuum energy couple to matter only at a very
low energy, the highest value particle, presumably a photon having a
frequency of 1.7 THz (which has the low mass-energy of .007 eV) and a
equivalent temperature near that of liquid air.
“One of the most surprising predictions of modern quantum theory is that
the vacuum of space is not empty. In fact, quantum theory predicts that
it teems with virtual particles flitting in and out of existence.” It
has been known since 1948 that if two flat mirrors are held close
together and parallel, they will be pushed together by virtual
particles. That is one way to convert virtual to real, but there could
be others which do not require the very tight Casimir geometry (few nm)
and operate on a different principle.
If the gap between the mirrors is smaller than the wavelength of the
virtual particles, they are excluded from this space. The vacuum
pressure inside the gap is then less than outside it and this forces the
mirrors. Alternatively, if the gap is exactly the wavelength of the
target particle and the mirrors are highly reflective, the stage is set
for virtual coherent photons to oscillate in the gap, condense and
become real. This could happen within a curved gap as well as a flat gap
so long as the gap is transparent to the desired photons.
The following is a second effort to propose a simple simple experiment
which can include a superconductive reflective film, which may be
necessary to cohere ZPE. A lamination of three basic layers is required,
one transparent and two reflective. A transparent film of the required
geometry (~.175 mm or 7 mil) is used in automobile safety glass
lamination. This is typically 7 mil Polyester Film (Mylar). The most
energetic ZPE particle which we can expect under the operating premise
should resonate in a Mylar film of this thickness so long a mirrored
reflectance is provided on both sides. A large surface area can be
rolled into a cylinder which will have several million square centimeters.
If ZPE photons at low energy are reflected efficiently by a mirrored
metal, a Mylar film roll of several hundred layers which has been
rewound and interleaved with layers of mirrored aluminum foil could
serve as a "breeding ground" for converting virtual photons to real.
There is a close analogy to the "population inversion" of lasing, and
coherence could be self-reinforcing in such an arrangement.
The foil would tend to internally reflect photons of an exact wavelength
due to geometric resonance at the spacing of the gap. If virtual photons
are present, we could see super-radiance developing, leading to
coherence and a resulting physical anomaly. I think there is a decent
chance to see an anomaly in this type of setup but it should work better
if we could replace the mirrored aluminum with a superconductor.
There is hope for such a material to emerge from labs soon, due to the
interest in graphene - a film which can be both reflective and
superconductive: http://www.azonano.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=4497
I would actually expect the temperature of the layered "jelly roll"
described above to drop, rather than rise, since the energy of the
favored photon in this case is far less than ambient. In fact, the roll
could cool all the way to around 70K if a reflective superconductor can
be found. That would be with zero power input.
"Self cooling" is an interesting proposition. It may not be as exciting
as excess heating, but many new uses would be expected to materialize if
it can be engineered efficiently. There is a certain kind of semantic
compatibility between "self-cooling" and Dirac's "sea of negative
energy" which could be no accident.
