AAWSAP DIRD Concepts for Extracting Energy from the Quantum Vacuum April 6 2010
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Defense
Intelligence
Reference
Document
Acquisition Threat Support
6 April 2010
ICOD : 1 December 2009
DIA-08-1004-007
Concepts for Extracting
Energy From the Quantum
Vacuum
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Concepts for Extracting Energy From the Quantum Vacuum
Prepared by:
Acquisition Support Division (DW0-3)
Defense Warning Office
Directorate for Analysis
Defense Intelligence Agency
Author:
AAP Person 58
Administrative Note
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This product is one in a series of advanced technology reports produced in FY 2009
under the Defense Intelligence Agency, Defense Warning Office's Advanced Aerospace
Weapon System Applications (AAWSA) Program. Comments or questions pertaining to
this document should be addressed to jAAPPerson 1 I,
AAWSA Program
Manager, Defense Intelligence Agency, ATTN: CLAR/DWO-3, Bldg 6000, Washington,
DC 20340-5100.
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Contents
I. Summary .............................................................................................................v
II. Historical Concepts for Extracting Energy and Thermodynamic Considerations 1
III. Origin of Zero-Point Field Energy ..................................................................... 4
Elements of QED Theory ..................................................................................... 4
Elements of SED Theory ..................................................................................... 6
IV. Review of Selected Experiments ....................................................................... 7
Voltage Fluctuations in Coils Induced by ZPF at High Frequency ........................ 7
ZPF Energy Extraction by Ground State Energy Reduction ............................... 10
Tunable Casimir Effect ..................................................................................... 14
EV Phenomenon ............................................................................................... 17
V. Theoretical Considerations and Issues ............................................................. 22
QED Vacuum Revisited ..................................................................................... 22
QED Vacuum as a Plenum ............................................................................. 22
QED Vacuum as a Mathematical "Placeholder" for Fluctuating Matter Fields 23
Casimir Effect Revisited ................................................................................... 24
Casimir Effect in the Plenum Picture ............................................................ 24
Casimir Effect in the Fluctuating Matter Fields Picture ................................. 24
Type I (Transient) and Type II (Continuous) Machines .................................... 25
Degradability of the Vacuum ............................................................................ 25
Alternatives to QED .......................................................................................... 26
Neoclassical Theories of QED Vacuum Fluctuation Effects ............................ 26
SED Model Revisited ..................................................................................... 27
QED Without Second-Quantized Fields ......................................................... 28
Examples of Degradable of Decaying Vacuum .................................................. 28
Gravitational Squeezing of the Vacuum ........................................................ 29
Redshifting the Vacuum ............................................................................... 29
Vacuum Field Stress: Negative Vacuum Energy from the Casimir Effect ...... 30
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Squeezed Quantum Vacuum ......................................................................... 32
Dirac Vacuum Decay: "Sparking the Vacuum" .............................................. 33
Magnetically Induced Decay of the Dirac Vacuum ........................................ 34
Melting the QCD Vacuum .............................................................................. 35
Summary: ZPF Modes and Vacuum Field Energy ......................................... 37
VI. Conclusion: The Way Forward to 2050 ........................................................... 37
Acknowledgements .............................................................................................. 41
Appendix: The QCD Bag Model ............................................................................ 42
References ........................................................................................................... 44
Figures
Figure 1. Illustration of the Casimir Effect ............................................................. 1
Figure 2. Vacuum-Fluctuation Battery .................................................................... 1
Figure 3. ZPE Resonant Dielectric Spheres Electrical Power Generation ................. 3
Figure 4. Theoretical Voltage Spectral Density of a Tungsten Coil .......................... 9
Figure 5. Energy Released from Ground State Suppression of Hydrogenic Atom
in a Microcavity ..................................................................................... 11
Figure 6. Apparatus for Ground State Energy Suppression: Casimir Segmented
Tunnels ................................................................................................. 13
Figure 7. Alternative Apparatus for Ground State Energy Suppression: Casimir
Strip and Spacer-Channels .................................................................... 13
Figure 8. Experimental Apparatus for Ground State Energy Reduction Tests ....... 14
Figure 9. Tunable Casimir Effect: Conductor vs. Dielectric................................... 15
Figure 10. Tunable Casimir Effect: Engine Cycle ................................................... 16
Figure 11. Schematic of EV (Pulse Discharge Source) Device............................... 18
Figure 12. SEM of EV Damage to Ceramic Plate.................................................... 19
Figure 13. SEM of EV Damage to Palladium Target ............................................... 20
Figure 14. EV Moving at Downward Angle Away From Its Source........................ 21
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Concepts for Extracting Energy From the Quantum Vacuum
I. Summary
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 d irections, and with a cubic frequency distribution.
This differs from the cosmic microwave backg r ound radiation and is refe rred
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 ( 1043 Hertz [Hz]), it represents an energy density of as
much as 10 113 J/m 3 , wh ich is far in excess of any other known energy source,
even if only an infinitesimal fraction of it is accessible. Even if one is
constrained to integrate over all frequency modes only up to the nucleon
~
Compton frequency ( 10 23 Hz), 1 t his energy d ensity is still enormous ( 10 3 5 ~
J/m 3). In addition, the electromagnetic quantum vacuum is not alone; it
intimately couples to the charged particles in the Dirac sea of virtual fermion
particle-antiparticle pairs (aka the Dirac vacuum) and thereby couples to the
other interactions inherent in the Standard Model (weak and strong force
vacua). However, in the Standard Model of particle physics, the weak force
vacuum is essentially the electromagnetic vacuum, because photons serve as
the massless eigenstates of (unified) electroweak theory with an "effective"
coupling constant that is in fact electromagnetic in strength. 2 And we can
safely ignore any coupling of the quantum electromagnetic vacuum to the
quantum chromodynamic vacuum in this paper 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,3 in
which the Yang-Mills fields that carry color (gluons) propagate freely. Both
vacuum phases are separated by a boundary at the surface of the hadron on
which the Yang-Mills and quark fields satisfy boundary conditions.
Even though this zero-point field (ZPF) energy seems to be an inescapable
consequence of quantum field theory, its energy density is so enormous as to
make it difficult to reconcile. Instead, many quantum calculations subtract the
ZPF energy by ad hoc means (for example, renormalization). However, the
effects of the quantum vacuum ZPF that are responsible for a variety of well
known physical effects are observed, such as:
Lamb shift.
Spontaneous atomic emission.
1 The characteristic frequency associated with the size of nucleons.
2 The weak force coupling constant is merely the quantum electrodynamic/electromagnetic
coupling constant (i.e., the fine structure constant, a) that is "suppressed" by a simple
inverse-quadratic ratio of the virtual weak force particle mass to the proton mass (a factor
of 10-4).
3 Hadrons are the class of strongly interacting elementary particles which are a bound state
of quarks. This class of particles has two subclasses: baryons (e.g., protons and neutrons
comprised of three quarks) and mesons ( comprised of two quarks).
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Low-temperature van der Waals forces.
Casimir effect.
Source of photon shot and fluctuating radiation-pressure noise in lasers.
• Astronomically observed cosmological constant (aka dark energy, a form of
Casimir energy according to the Schwinger-DeWitt quantum ether
prescription [ Reference 1-4]).
Rather than eliminate the ZPF energy from the equations, there is much left to
be learned by exploring the possibility that it is a real energy, From this
perspective, the ordinary world of matter and energy is like foam atop the
quantum vacuum sea. If the ZPF is real, then there is the possibility that it can
be tapped as a source of power or be harnessed to generate a propulsive force
for space travel. This notion of exchanging energy with the quantum vacuum
is the focus of this paper.
An aircraft propeller or jet engine can push air backwards to propel the
aircraft forward. A ship or boat propeller does the same thing in water. On
Earth there is air or water to push against. But a rocket in space has no
material medium to push against, and so it needs to carry and eject propellant
in order to provide momentum. A deep-space rocket must start out with all the
propellant it will ever require, and this quickly results in the need to carry
additional propellant just to propel the propellant. The breakthrough desired
in space travel is to eliminate the need to carry propellant at all, that is, to
generate a propulsive force without carrying and ejecting propellant?
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II. Historical Concepts for Extracting Energy and
Thermodynamic Considerations
The Casimir force is a force associated with the electromagnetic quantum vacuum
(Reference 5). This force is an attraction between parallel uncharged metallic plates
that has now been well measured and can be attributed to a minute imbalance in the
ZPF energy (ZPE) density inside the cavity between the plates versus the region outside
the plates as shown in Figure 1 (Reference 6-8). As shown in the figure, the vacuum is
full of virtual photons (that is, zero-point vacuum fluctuations), but photons with
wavelengths, 'A., more than twice the plate separation, d, are excluded from the space
between them, which causes the imbalance that pushes the plates together.
The primary requirement for space travel is energy. It is sometimes assumed that
attempting to extract energy from the vacuum ZPF would somehow violate the laws of
thermodynamics. Fortunately, it turns out that this is not the case. A thought
experiment published by Forward (Reference 9, 10) demonstrated how the Casimir
force could in principle be used to extract energy from the vacuum ZPF. Forward
showed that any pair of conducting plates at close distance experiences an attractive
Casimir force that is due to the electromagnetic ZPF of the vacuum. A "vacuum
fluctuation battery" can be constructed by using the Casim ir force to do work on a stack
of charged conducting plates as shown in Figure 2. By applying a charge of the same
polarity to each conducting plate, a repulsive electrostatic force will be produced that
opposes the Casimir force. If the applied electrostatic force is adjusted to be always
slightly less than the Casimir force, the plates will move toward each other and the
Casimir force will add energy to the electric field between the plates. The battery can be
recharged by making the electrical force slightly stronger than the Casimir force to re
expand the foliated conductor.
Figure 1. Illustration of the Casimir Effect Figure 2. Vacuum-Fluctuation Battery (Reference 9)
Cole and Puthoff (Reference 11) verified that (generic) energy extraction schemes are
not contradictory to the laws of thermodynamics. For thermodynamically reversible
processes, no heat will flow at temperature T = 0. However, for thermodynamically
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irreversible processes, heat can be produced and made to flow, either at T = 0 or at
any other T > 0 situation, such as by taking a system out of mechanical equilibrium .
Moreover, work can be done by or done on physical systems, either at T = 0 or T > 0
situations, whether for a reversible or irreversible process. However, if one is
considering a net cyclical process on the basis of, say, the Casimir effect, then energy
would not be able to be continually extracted without a violation of the second law of
thermodynamics. Thus, Forward's process cannot be cycled to yield a continuous
extraction of energy. Here, the recharging of the battery would, owing to frictional and
other losses, require more energy than is gained from the ZPF. There is no useful
engine cycle in this process; nonetheless, the plate-contraction phase of the cycle does
demonstrate the ability to cause "extraction" of energy from the ZPF. It does reflect
work done by the ZPF on matter.
Another illustrative example of an early scheme for extracting energy from the ZPF is
described in a patent by Mead and Nachamkin (Reference 12). They propose that a set
of resonant dielectric spheres be used to extract energy from the ZPF and convert it
into electrical power. They consider the use of resonant dielectric spheres, slightly
detuned from each other, to provide a beat-frequency downshift of the more energetic
high-frequency components of the ZPF to a more easily captured form. Figure 3 shows
two embod iments of the invention. The device includes a pair of dielectric structures
(items 12, 14, 112, 114 in the figure) that are positioned proximal to each other and
which intercept incident ZPE radiation (items 16, 116 in the figure). The volumetric
sizes of the structures are selected so that they resonate at a particular frequency of
the incident radiation. But the volumetric sizes of the structures are chosen to be
slightly different so that the secondary radiations emitted from them (items 18, 20, 24,
118, 120, 124 in the figure) at resonance interfere with each other, thus producing a
beat frequency radiation that is at a much lower frequency than that of the incident
radiation, and that can be converted into electrical energy. A conventional metallic
antenna (loop or dipole type, or a RF cavity structure; items 22, 122 in the figure) can
then be used to collect the beat frequency radiation. This radiation is next transm itted
from the antenna to a converter via an electrical conductor or waveguide (items 26,
126 in the figure) and converted to electrical energy. The converter must include: 1) a
tuning circuit or comparable device so that it can effectively receive the beat frequency
radiation, 2) a transformer to convert the energy to electrical current having a desired
voltage, and 3) a rectifier to convert the energy to electrical current having a desired
waveform (items 28, 30, 32, 34, 128, 130, 132 in the figure).
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10~ 110
20
114
12 14
112
_A 116
¢{ 22
26
,..,,.-34
~ 122
126
28_)
;[[
32
/
130
128_}
I
132
IT:
Figure 3. ZPE Resonant Dielectric Spheres Electrical Power Generation (Reference 12)
The receiving structures are composed of dielectric material in order to diffract and
scatter the incident ZPE radiation. The volumetric sizing requirements for the receiving
structures are selected to enable them to resonate at a high frequency corresponding to
the incident ZPE radiation, based on the parameters of frequency of the incident ZPE
radiation, and the propagation characteristics of the medium (vacuum or otherwise)
and the receiving structures. Since the ZPE radiation energy density increases with
increasing frequency, greater amounts of electromagnetic energy are potentially
ava ilable at higher frequencies. Consequently, the size of the receiving structures must
be miniaturized in order to produce greater amounts of energy from a system located
with in a space or volume of a given size. Therefore, the smaller the size of the receiving
structures, the greater the amount of energy that can in principle be produced by the
system.
Although a computer model study performed at the Air Force Research Laboratory
(Edwards AFB, CA) indicates that the invention could work, no experimental study has
been performed to validate this in the lab (F. B. Mead, private communication, 2002).
Regarding critiques, it is not clear how the beat frequency can be picked up by the
receiving loop antenna. There is no nonlinear method in the invention showing that an
electromagnetic beat frequency can be generated and coupled to the loop. Without a
nonlinear coupling method there will be no sidebands, one of which would be frequency
down-shifted and called the beat frequency. The coupling method requires the
generation of sidebands in the mixing of two different frequencies via a nonlinear
technique. However, an easy resolution to this potential deficiency is that the resonant
dielectric spheres could be constructed of a nonlinear dielectric material.
Although several novel ZPF energy extraction mechanisms have been proposed in the
popular and technical literature, no practicable technique has been successfully
demonstrated in the laboratory . To better understand how ZPE extraction methods
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might work, it is necessary to characterize the physics of the ZPF and proposed energy
extraction techniques, and to evaluate their feasibility for appl ication to space power
and propulsion systems. In what follows, the physics of the ZPF and the experimental
investigations being pursued to address the question of extracting energy from the
quantum vacuum are summarized.
III. Origin of Zero-Point Field Energy
ELEMENTS OF QED THEORY
The basis of the ZPF is typically attributed to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.
According to this principle, A and B are any two conjugate observables that one is
interested in measuring, and they obey the commutation relation [A,B] = in. 4 Their
corresponding uncertainty relation is M~B 2'. n/2, where M is the variance (aka
uncertainty) of observable A and ~B is that of the conjugate observable B. This relation
states that if one measures observable A with very high precision (that is, its
uncertainty M is very small), then a simultaneous measurement of observable B will be
less precise (that is, its uncertainty ~Bis very large), and vice versa. In other words, it
is not possible to simultaneously measure two conjugate observable quantities with
infinite precision. This minimum uncertainty is not due to any correctable flaws in
measurement, but rather reflects the intrinsic fuzziness in the quantum nature of
energy and matter. Substantial theoretical and experimental work has shown that in
many quantum systems the limits to measurement precision is imposed by the
quantum vacuum ZPF embodied within the uncertainty principle. Nowadays one would
rather see the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle as a necessary consequence, and
therefore, a derived result of the wave nature of quantum phenomena. The
uncertainties are just a consequence of the Fourier nature of conjugate pairs of
quantities (observables). For example, the two Fourier-wave-conjugates time and
frequency become the pair of quantum-particle conjugates time and energy and the
two Fourier-wave-conjugates displacement and wavenumber become the pair of
quantum-particle conjugates position and momentum. For more on this see, for
example, Reference 13.
Classically, electromagnetic radiation can be pictured as waves flowing through space at
the speed of light. The waves are not waves of anything substantive, but are in fact
ripples in the state of a field. These waves carry energy, and each wave has a specific
direction, frequency and polarization state. This is called a "propagating mode of the
electromagnetic field." A useful tool for modeling the propagating mode of the
electromagnetic field in quantum mechanics is the ideal quantum mechanical harmonic
oscillator: a hypothetical charged mass on a perfect spring oscillating back and forth
under the action of the spring's restoring force. The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle
dictates that a quantized harmonic oscillator (aka a photon state) can never come
entirely to rest, since that would be a state of exactly zero energy, which is forbidden
by the commutation relation outlined above. Instead, every mode of the field has hw/2
as its average minimum energy in the vacuum. 5 (This is a small amount of energy, but
the number of modes is enormous, and indeed increases as the square of the
frequency. The product of this minuscule energy per mode, multiplied by the huge
spatial density of modes, yields a very high theoretical energy density per unit volume.)
4 i is the unit complex number. n is Planck's reduced constant, 1.055 x 10-34 J-s.
5 w is the mode or photon frequency and nw is the energy of a single mode or photon.
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This ZPE term is added to the classical blackbody spectral radiation energy density
p(w)dro (that is, the energy per unit volume of rad iation in the frequency interval (w, w
+ dw )) (Reference 14):
p(w)dw =al- [ - - - hw- - +hw - ] dw
n 2 c3 exp(hw/ kT) - 1 2
(1)
3
= - hw hw)
-2 3 coth ( - - dw,
21t c 2kT
where c is the speed of light (3.0 x 108 m/s), k is Boltzmann's constant (1.3807 x 10-2 3
J/K), T is the absolute temperature, and ro = 2nv is the angular frequency. The factor
outside the square brackets in the first line of Equation (1) is the density of mode (or
photon) states (that is, the number of states per unit frequency interval per unit
volume); the first term inside the square brackets is the standard Planck blackbody
radiation energy per mode; and the second term inside the square brackets is the
quantum zero-point energy per mode. Equation ( 1) is called the Zero-Point Planck
(ZPP) spectral rad iation energy density. Planck first added the ZPE term to the classical
blackbody spectral radiation energy density in 1912, although it was Einstein, Hopf, and
Stern who actually recognized the physical significance of this term in 1913 (Reference
14). Direct spectroscopic evidence for the reality of ZPE was provided by Mulliken's
boron monoxide spectral band experiments in 1924, several months before Heisenberg
first derived the ZPE for a harmonic oscillator from his new quantum matrix mechanics
theory (Reference 15).
Following this line of reasoning, quantum physics predicts that all of space must be
filled with electromagnetic zero-point fluctuations (aka the zero-po int field) creating a
universal sea of zero-point energy. The density of this energy depends critically on
where the frequency of the zero-point fluctuations ceases. Since space itself is currently
thought to break up into a kind of "quantum foam" at the Planck length, A p (~ 10- 35 m),
it is argued that the ZPF must cease at the corresponding vp. If true, then the ZPE
density would be ~ 10 113 J/m 3 , 108 orders of magnitude greater than the rad iant
energy at the center of the Sun! Forma lly, in Quantum Electrodynamics (QED) theory,
the ZPE energy density is taken as infinite; however, arguments based on quantum
gravity considerations yield a fin ite cutoff at vp . Therefore, the spectral energy density
is given by p(w)dw = (nw 3/2 n2 c3 )dw, which integrates to an energy density, pE =
nvp 4/8n2 c3 ~ 10 11 3 J/m 3 . As large as the ZPE is, interactions with it are typically cut off at
lower frequencies depending on the particle coupling constants or t heir structure.
Nevertheless, the potential ZPF energy density pred icted by quantum physics is
enormous.
Many experts have claimed that an enormous vacuum ZPF energy density would
produce a corresponding enormous gravitational force of attraction (via Einstein's
General Theory of Relativity) that would cause the immediate collapse of the entire
universe. Thus they argue that such enormous vacuum energy cannot be rea l due to
the fact that our universe is observed to be undergoing accelerated expansion.
However, such arguments are spurious because numerous stud ies in quantum field
theory show that it is the low-frequency ZPF modes that contribute significantly to the
physica l vacuum energy, because 1) only the low-frequency modes are affected by the
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presence of cosmological spacetime curvature, and 2) the high-frequency modes are
unaffected by the presence of cosmological spacetime curvature so they take the flat
Minkowski spacetime form; that is, these modes contribute nothing to the physical
vacuum energy (Reference 4). This then enforces a very low-frequency cutoff that
renorma lizes the total vacuum energy, leading to a minute residual cosmolog ical
vacuum energy density of 10- 9 J/m3, wh ich has been observed. Also, investigators
studying supersymmetric and superstring quantum gravity theories have proposed the
limited cancellation of some positive energy electromagnetic ZPF modes by some
negative energy fermionic (Dirac vacuum) ZPF modes as an explanation for the
observed minute vacuum energy density.
ELEMENTS OF SED THEORY
An alternative to QED, stochastic electrodynamics (SEO) identifies the origin of the ZPF
as a direct consequence of a classical ZPF background. SEO begins with the ordinary
classical electrodynamics of Maxwell and Lorentz, but instead of assuming the
traditional homogeneous solution of the source-free differential wave equations for the
electromagnetic potentials, one instead considers that due to multiple charged particles
moving throughout the universe, there is always a random electromagnetic radiation
background present that affects the particle(s) in any experiment. This new boundary
condition (random radiation background) replaces the prior null background of
traditional classical electrodynam ics. Moreover, the principle of relativity dictates that
identical experiments performed in different inertial frames must yield the same result,
and that this random classical electromagnetic radiation must be isotropic in all inertial
frames; it is invariant under scattering by a dipole oscillator, invariant under redshift
(Doppler, cosmological, gravitational, no Einstein-Hopf drag force), and must therefore
have a Lorentz- invariant energy density spectrum. The only energy density spectrum
that obeys such conditions is one that is proportional to the cub ic power of the
frequency. Interestingly, this is exactly the same frequency dependence as that of the
QED spectral ZPF energy density described above, when the temperature Tis set to
zero in Equation (1). Thus in SEO, the random radiation assumes the role of the ZPE of
QED, and is termed the classical electromagnetic ZPE. Planck's constant appears then in
SEO as an adjustable parameter that sets the scale of the ZPE spectral density.
The formulation of the SED model has evolved over time, beginning with the work of
Nernst in 1916 and the later foundational work of Marshall and Boyer in the 1960s
(Reference 14). The original Standard SED model was based on random phases with
fixed electric-field mode amplitudes. The more recent Modified SED model employs
random phases with random electric-field mode amplitudes and a full probability
distribution for the ground state amplitude, in agreement with quantum theory
(Reference 16). A comparison of SEO with quantum theory shows that the first and
second moments of the spectral energy distribution are identical, but beyond that, the
distributions diverge widely. Nevertheless, several quantum theory results have been
reproduced by means of the SED approach, such as (Reference 14, 17):
• Quantum mechanical harmonic oscillator.
• Lamb shift.
• Blackbody radiation.
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• Van der Waals forces.
• Casimir fo rces.
• Diamagnetism.
• Dav ies-Unruh Effect.
The strength of the SEO model is that it is heuristically appeal ing, with transparent
derivations, and it is applicable to linear systems. SEO calculations have also been
shown to be in one-to-one correspondence with the expectation va lues of the
Heisenberg quantum equations of motion for linear systems . Both SED and QED will
play a role in the discussions to follow.
IV. Review of Selected Experiments
In what follows, is an outline each of the proposed experimental concepts that were
selected for theoretica l and laboratory investigation. A subset of our proposed concepts
has undergone preliminary evaluation by Lockheed-Martin review panels involving both
internal R&D personnel and outside experts on theory and experimentation (V. Teofila,
private commun ication, 2005).
VOLTAGE FLUCTUATIONS IN COILS INDUCED BY ZPF AT HIGH
FREQUENCY
In a series of experiments, Koch et al. (Reference 18-20) measured voltage fluctuations
in resistive wire circuits that are induced by the ZPF. The Koch et al. result is striking
corroboration of the reality of the ZPF and proves that the ZPF can do real work (cause
measurable currents). Although the Koch et al. experiment detected minuscule
amounts of ZPF energy, it shows the princi ple of ZPF energy circuitry to detect vacuum
fluctuations and opens the door to consideration of means to extract useful amounts of
energy. The secondary consequences on other phenomena, if energy can be
successfully extracted, have not yet been investigated.
Blanco et al. (Reference 21) have proposed a method for enhancing the ZPF-induced
voltage fluctuations in circuits. Theoretically treating a coil of wire as an antenna, they
argue that the antenna-like radiation resistance of the coil should be included in the
total resistance of the circuit, and suggest that this total resistance should be used in
the theoretical computation of ZPF-induced voltage fluctuations. Because of the strong
dependence of the radiation resistance on the number of coil turns (quadratic scaling),
coil radius (quartic scaling), and frequency (quartic scaling), any enhanced ZPF-induced
voltage fluctuations should be measurable in the laboratory at readily accessible
frequencies (100 MHz compared to the 100 GHz range necessary in the Koch et al.
experiments).
In the theory of Blanco et al., random voltage fluctuations are conveniently described
by their frequency spectrum. That is, given a sufficient time interval of measured
voltages, the measurements are Fourier transformed to the frequency domain to
determine how the voltage fluctuations are distributed (for example, quantity of low
frequency, long duration fluctuations relative to high-frequency, short-duration
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fluctuations). Theoretically, the spectrum of voltage fluctuations, S(ro,T), of a resistive
circuit is given by (Reference 21):
S(w T) = R(w ,T) hw coth( hw) (2)
' 1t 2 2kT
where R(w,T) is the total resistance (ohmic plus radiative), ro is the (angular) frequency,
and Tis the absolute temperature. The resistance R(ro,T) is temperature dependent
through its ohmic contribution. 6 Note the similar hyperbolic cotangent functions
appearing in Equation (2) and in the second line of Equation (1). The postulate of
Blanco et al. is that the total resistance must include the radiation resistance of the
circuit (Reference 21):
R(ro,T) = l\hmic(ro, I)+ l\act(ro) (3)
Under the assumption that the wavelengths of the ZPF modes of interest are larger
than the dimensions of the circuit, the radiation resistance of a coil is given by
(Reference 21):
Rrad ( 0)) = ~ 1t2N 2 ( aw J4 (4)
3 C C
where N is the number of coil turns, and a is the radius of the coil winding.
According to Blanco et al., large enhancements in ZPF-induced voltage fluctuations are
possible. By reducing the temperature to minimize ohmic resistance, making the coil of
many turns and large radius, and performing measurements at high frequency, it
should be possible to investigate this amplification effect. The predicted coil-enhanced
voltage spectrum can readily be computed. The result is shown in Figure 4 for a 1 cm
diameter coil of 2000 turns, made of 38 AWG tungsten wire, and kept at a temperature
of 3 K. In Figure 4, the upper (blue) curve represents the predicted voltage spectral
density for the combined ohmic plus radiation resistance. The lower (red) curve is the
predicted result when radiation resistance is ignored. If the postulate of Blanco et al. is
correct, the enhancement in voltage fluctuations due to the antenna-like nature of the
coil should be easily measured at frequencies as low as 100 MHz (where the coil
enhancement effect is~ 100-fold for tungsten).
6 The radiation resistance depends only on frequency .
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10•18
Material: W
N coil: 2000
10·19
a coil: 1 cm
1o-20 b coil: 0.01 cm
VJ T: 3 Kelvin
1o-21
108
{{Hz
Figure 4. Theoretical Voltage Spectral Density of a Tungsten Coil
To successfu lly measure t he ZPF-induced voltage fluctuations, the requirements of low
temperature, large coil, and high frequency must be met. The low-temperature
requirement is met by performing the experiment in a cooled dewar. Existing high
quality cryogen ic dewars (pumped down to 3 K) and sensitive laboratory instruments
are suitable for the measurements . The cold spot in one particular dewar under
consideration is cylindrical, 2.5 cm in both diameter and height. The largest coil that
can be installed will thus have a coil radius of approximately a = 1 cm. To keep the
linear dimension of the coil small will require a small wire thicknesses, perhaps b =
0.01 cm (gauge 38 AWG). By winding the coi l in a number of layers (10 or 12 layers), a
large number of turns can be accommodated, perhaps N = 2,000 turns. To minimize
ohmic resistance, wire made of tungsten (W) is preferred; however, copper (Cu) is a
suitable alternative.
Voltage fluctuatio ns in the 100 MHz range are easily detected using commercially
available laboratory equipment; hence this experiment could be performed using
tungsten without resorting to the more sophisticated Josephson junction techniques
required by Koch et al. for their higher frequency measurements. For a copper wire coil,
the magnitude of the enhancement effect is reduced somewhat compared to t he
tungsten results shown in Figure 4. But for frequencies approaching the GHz regime,
the radiation resistance enhancement effect in copper wire is still predicted to be over
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four orders of magnitude larger. Commercial equ ipment readily allows measurements of
the voltage spectrum in t he GHz regime. Therefore, given a cost tradeoff of copper vs.
tungsten coil fabrication, the use of copper coils may be preferred. Suitable coils can be
fabricated by a custom coil - winding vendor. A second coil can be used in a control
experiment constructed with the same parameters as the first coil, but with half of its
turns wound in the reverse direction. This wil l make the coil non-inductive so that its
voltage spectral density should correspond to the lower red curve in Figure 4.
ZPF ENERGY EXTRACTION BY GROUND STATE ENERGY REDUCTION
As first analyzed by Boyer (Reference 22), and later refined by Puthoff (Reference 23),
the follow ing paradox was addressed: even though atomic ground states involve
electrons in accelerated motion, such states are nonetheless radiationless in nature -
even though it is well known from classical electrodynamics that charged particles
undergoing acceleration must always emit radiation. For the standard Boh r ground
state orbit of the hydrogen atom, this was interpreted as an equilibrium process in
which radiation by the electron in its ground state orbit was compensated by absorption
of radiation from the background vacuum electromagnetic ZPE. This interpretation has
recently been strengthened by the analyses of Cole and Zou (Reference 24, 25) using a
SED model for the vacuum ZPE. Since the balance between em itted orbital-acceleration
radiation and absorbed ZPE radiation is modeled as taking place primarily at the ground
state orbital frequency, one can consider the possibil ity of using this feature in some
type of mechanism to extract energy from the ZPF. One fundamental difference
between the SED interpretation and that of quantum mechanics is that in quantum
mechanics the ls state of the electron is regarded as having zero angular momentum,
whereas in the SED interpretation the electron has an angular momentum of
mp~I 137 .7
The Bohr radius of the hydrogen atom in the SED view is 0.529 A. This implies that the
wavelength (A) of zero-point radiation responsible for sustaining the orbit is 2n • 0.529 •
137 = 455 A(or 0.0455 µm). It has been conjectured by Puthoff and Haisch (private
communication, 2004) that suppression of zero-point radiation at this wavelength (and
at shorter wavelengths) inside a Casimir microcavity could result in the decay of the
electron to a lower energy state determined by a new balance between classical
emission of an accelerated charge and absorption of zero-point radiation at 'A, < 455 A,
where ;i_ depends on the microcavity plate separation (d) . Since the frequency of this
orbit is 6.6 x 10 15 Hz, no matter how quickly the atom were to be injected into a
Casimir microcavity, one would assume that the decay process would be a slow one as
experienced by the orbiting electron. Figure 5 shows a schematic representation of a
hydrogenic atom in free space and inside a microcavity.
7 me = electron mass (9.11 x 10-31 kg), re = electron rad ius, atomic fine structure (a.k.a . QED coupling) constant er.
= 1/137, and c/137 is the classical orbital velocity of the ground state electron.
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1
,.b
0 ]'
b
0 J., ~ -11111
_o
- - - + - - - ~ - - - - - - - - - 7· ______,____ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 1·
E out
Figure S. Energy Released from Ground State Suppression of Hydrogenic Atom in a Microcavity. (rb =
free-space Bohr orbit rad ius, fb' = suppressed Bohr orbit radius, ,, = resonant wavelength of Bohr orbit, and E out =
released energy) .
Consider the possibility that the decay to a new sub-Bohr ground state would involve
gradual release of energy in the form of heat, rather than a sudden optical radiation
signature. Since the binding energy of the electron is 13.6 eV, 8 it is estimated that the
amount of energy released in this process could be on the order of 1 to 10 eV for
injection of the hydrogen atom into a Casimir cavity of d = 250 A. Furthermore,
consider the possibility that when the electron exits the cavity it would reabsorb energy
from the zero-point field and be re-excited to its normal state. If these conjectures
were to be verified by experiment, then the energy extracted in the process comes at
the expense of the zero-point field, which in the SEO interpretation propagates at the
speed of light throughout the universe. In effect the energy would be extracted locally
and replenished globally. The secondary consequences on other phenomena, if this
energy conversion were to succeed, have not yet been investigated. However, on a
cautionary note, the conflicts between SEO and QED theories (discussed in Section V)
raise questions as to whether the conjectured approach discussed here is viable. This
issue is perhaps best addressed by experiment for its resolution.
In terms of an experimental test, consider using monatomic gases or liquids flowing in
a block with Casimir tunnels, which has the following attributes: 1) no dissociation
process is required for monatomic gases or liquids, 2) heavier element atoms are
approximately two to four times larger than hydrogen and thus can utilize and be
affected by a larger Casim ir cavity, 3) heavier elements have numerous outer shell
electrons, several of which may be simultaneously affected by the reduction of zero
point radiation in a Casimir cavity.
All of the noble gas elements contain ns electrons. He (Z = 2, r = 1.2 A) has two ls
electrons. Ne (Z = 10, r = 1.3 A) has two each of ls and 2s electrons. Ar (Z = 18, r =
1.6 A) has two each of ls, 2s, and 3s electrons. Kr (Z = 36, r = 1.8 A) has two of each
8 1 eV = 1.602 x 10- 19 J.
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of ls, 2s, 3s, and 4s electrons. Xe (Z = 54, r = 2.05 A) has two of each of ls, 2s, 3s,
4s and 5s electrons. Larger Casim ir cavities wou ld also be expected to have an effect on
the energetics of the outer electron shells (at larger radii). One could therefore expect
that a Casimir cavity having d = 0.1 µm could have an effect on reducing the energy
levels of the outermost pa ir of s electrons, and possibly also p electrons and
intermediate shell s electrons as well.
Continuing with this model, it is reasonable to expect that a 0.1 µm Casimir cavity could
result in a release of 1 to 10 eV for each injection of a He, Ne, Ar, Kr or Xe atom into
such a cavity. According to Maclay (Reference 26), a long cylindrical Casimir cavity
results in an inward force on the cavity walls due to the exclusion of interior ZPF
modes. In the "exclusion of modes" interpretation of the Casimir force, this implies that
a cylindrical cavity of diameter 0.1 µm could yield the desired decay of outer shell
electrons and subsequent release of energy. If one lets the length of the cylinder be
100 times the width, this resu lts in "A. = 10 µm for the length of the Casimir tunnel.
Taking advantage of this effect, Puthoff (private communication, 2004) and Haisch and
Moddel (Reference 27) propose a segmented tunnel consisting of alternating conducting
and non-conducting materials, each 10 µm in length. In a length of 1 cm, there could
be 500 such pairs in segments, resulting in 500 energy releases (each yielding 1 to 10
eV) for each transit of an atom through the entire 1 cm-long Casimir tunnel.
Now consider a 1 cm 3 block that is built up of 10 ~1m thick alternating layers as
described above (see Figure 6 for an illustration of this apparatus). Assume that tunnels
of 0.1 µm diameter could be drilled through the cube perpendicular to the layers (this is
not physically possible, of course; tunnel manufacture must be done differently). If 10
percent of the cross section comprises entrance to some 1.3 billion tunnels, then the
amount of energy released wou ld be proportional to the flow rate of the gas through
the tunnels (for the number of entrances and exits through Casimir segments). A flow
rate of 10 cm/s through a total cross sectional area of 0.1 cm 2 yields 1 cm 3 of gas per
second flowing through the tunnels, which at STP would be 2.7 x 10 19 atoms. A very
simple sealed, closed-loop pumping system could maintain such a continuous gas flow.
Since each atom interacts 500 times during its passage, there would be 1.3 x 10 22
transitions per second in the entire cube of 1 cm 3 . An energy release of 1 to 10 eV per
transition corresponds to 2,150 to 21,500 W of power released from the entire Casimir
cube of tunnels. This can also be achieved by using a pair of plates with conducting
strips creating Casimir cavities (via 5000 strip pairs) that are separated by 0.1 µm
spacers, through which Hg liquid or monatomic gases (for example, He, Ne, Ar, Kr, or
Xe) flow (Reference 27). See Figure 7 for an illustration of this apparatus. However,
again, all of this assumes that the chain of conjectures detailed above is correct.
Fortunately, th is can be experimentally tested.
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Figure 6. Apparatus for Ground State Figure 7. Alternative Apparatus for Ground State Energy
Energy Suppression: Casimir Segmented Suppression: Casimir Strip and Spacer-Channels
Tunnels
Microcavity fabrication to match the atomic ground states is daunting because there will
potentially be fabrication irregularities that cause edge and surface effects which act
upon the particles as they enter or exit the Casimir region. And it is not possible to drill
1.3 billion tunnels having diameters of 0.1 µm. However, it should be feasible to use
microchip technology to etch holes into the individual layers first and then assemble the
stack. Extremely fine coregistration and alignment of stacks would be an issue, but a
surmountable one. A much smaller number of layer pairs and tunnels would suffice for
a measurable demonstration of release of ZPE by this process. If such a small-scale
demonstration succeeds, larger versions that convert more energy could be built that
also take advantage of more efficient thermal-to-electrical energy conversion methods.
Also if successful, such apparatuses could be used to explore for secondary effects of
converting quantum vacuum energy into thermal, then electrical energy.
Further investigation by Puthoff et al. (Reference 28) was based on the prem ise that
the above principle is broadly applicable t o other than just atomic ground states. In
their experiment, H2 gas was passed through a 1 µm Casimir cavity to suppress the ZPE
radiation at the vibrational ground state of the H2 molecule. The anticipated signature
for such a process would be an increase in the dissociation energy of the molecule.
Initial experiments, shown in Figure 8, were carried out at the Synchrotron Rad iation
Center at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where an intense UV beam is
available to disassociate gas molecules. Unfortunately, problems with the synchrotron
beam (un related to the experiment) prevented a defin itive result from being obtained,
so the efficacy of this ZPE-extraction approach remains undetermined at the present
time. Further experimentation to investigate this hypothesis has yet to be completed.
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Figure 8. Experimental Apparatus for Ground State Energy Reduction Tests
TUNABLE CASIMIR EFFECT
As previously discussed, the Casimir Effect is a unique ZPF-driven quantum force that
occurs between closely-spaced conductive cavity walls (or plates). If left unfettered, the
plates will collapse together and energy is converted from the ZPF into heat (or other
forms of energy) in accordance with the expression El A =-rc2hc/720d 3 , where EJA is
the energy per unit area of the plates and dis the plate separation. Investigation of this
mechanism by Cole and Puthoff (Reference 11) showed that this process fully obeys
energy conservation and thermodynamic laws.
Although the Casimir force is conservative, and thus the Casimir device might appear to
be a one-shot device, the fact that the attractive Casimir force is weaker for dielectric
plates compared to conductive plates raises the possibility of the use of thin-film
switchable mirrors to obtain a recycling engine (Reference 29-31). Figure 9 shows a
comparison of the strength of the Casimir force in a conductive cavity with that in a
dielectric cavity. In such an application the plates are drawn together by the stronger
force associated with the conducting state and withdrawn after switching to the
dielectric state. The engine cycle for this concept is shown in Figure 10. Assuming
optimistic conditions for practical devices (negligible energy required for switching;
plate separation oscillations between 30 nm and 15 nm for 1 cm 2 plates; driving circuit
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,,;:; 10 times the weight of the Casimir plates, and so forth), an estimate of the
achievable power might be obtained. Based on the described parameters, and assuming
a switching from a purely conductive state to a dielectric constant of K = 4, yields a
figure of merit of z 35 x f(MHz) W/kg (f = switching rate) for the power density
(Reference 29). This can be compared to the power density of ,,;:; 5 W/kg achieved by
current rad ioisotope thermoelectric generators. The predicted output power per unit
area for this experimental device is z 10- 6 f (MHz)/4[d( ~1m)J3 W/cm 2 .
Spacing, d (µm)
0.5 0.6 0. 7 0.8 0.9 1.0
0
--
l
~
......,,
5
=
.... lO
~
X
conductor
"
Gil
15
.:a~
·a
i 20
~
i
25
30
Figure 9. Tunable Casimir Effect: Conductor vs. Dielectric
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Spacing, d (µm)
0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0
0
. ----1-·---·
mput
l-
i=;;_;
......,
5
energy
---- ----
K=4
-=
~
X
10
~
G,l
15
.:e
.....
·=
e~
20
output
energy
~
~
~
25
30
Figure 10. Tunable Casimir Effect: Engine Cycle
Another "tunable" conductive-type plate experiment under consideration involves the
use of plates consisting of three-dimensional photonic crystals, with the bandgap of the
photons that can transmit through the structure being a "tunable" value. Using
microelectromechanical processing methods, Sandia National Laboratory has produced
such crystals and is researching methods of actively modifying the structures while in
use (Reference 32). The technology requirements for this concept are the nano
fabrication of microcavities with thin-film deposited surfaces, RF-driven piezoelectric
mounts for cavity oscillation, mirror-switching modality (for example, hydrogen
pressure modulation), and calorimetric measurement of energy/heat production.
An initial experiment to explore this concept was recently performed by Iannuzzi et al.
(Reference 33). They investigated the effect of hydrogen switchable mirrors (HSMs) on
the Casimir force. HSMs are shiny metals in their "as deposited" state. However, when
they are exposed to a hydrogen-rich atmosphere, they become optically transparent.
Because the electromagnetic ZPF depends on the optical properties of the surfaces, the
Casimir force of attraction between two HSMs in air should be different than the
attraction between the same HSMs immersed in a hydrogen-rich atmosphere. That is
because one expects that the Casimir force will be much weaker when the HSM is in the
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transparent state rather than in the reflective state. The experiment tested this for
plate sepa rations of 70 - 400 nm.
Iannuzzi et al. 's experimental resu lts showed that t he Casimir force did not noticeably
decrease after filling the experimental apparatus with hydrogen. This may have
occurred for two reasons. First, the dielectric properties of the HSMs used in the
experiment are only known only in a limited range of wavelengths spanning 0.3 - 2.5
µm, wh ile the experiment measured the transparency of the HSMs over a wavelength
range of 0.5 - 3 µm. This narrower wavelength span excludes the rest of the
electromagnetic ZPF modes having wavelengths shorter than 0.5 µm and longer than 3
µm. The ZPF modes lying outside this narrow wavelength span were not affected by the
hydrogenation- induced transparency of the HSMs, hence their contribution to the tota l
Casimir force acting between the HSMs was not included. One would expect to see a
significant decrease of the Casimir force if the hydrogenation-induced transparency of
the HSMs had affected all of the ZPF mode wavelengths ranging from IR to UV (ZPF
modes with 1c >> 2.5 µm will not give rise to large contributions to the force). Second,
the experiment demonstrated a property of the Lifshitz theory (see Reference 33 for
more detail), that in order to significantly change the Casimir force between surfaces at
separations on the order of 100 nm it is not sufficient just to change their optical (IR
and visible) reflectivity, but it is necessary to modify their dielectric functions over a
much wider spectral range. This comports with the first reason, and indicates that more
theoretical and experimental work is needed to overcome the shortcomings of this
experiment, and allow for the design and testing of new experiments that can achieve
Casimir plate transparency over a wider spectral range.
A notion similar to the tunable Casimir Effect involves changing the dimensions of a
rectangular "Casimir box." Forward (Reference 34) proposed a paradox in which energy
could be extracted by altering the aspect ratio of a conductive rectangular Casimir
cavity over a specific cycle of dimension changes (for example, varying width while
holding length constant). It was subsequently shown by Maclay (Reference 26, 35),
that the Casimir energy inside the box is not isotropic, varying in such a way that more
work is expended in cycling the box dimensions than can be extracted. It appears that
no net gain of energy is theoretically possible in this scheme. Whether such
considerations apply to the tunable Casimir cavity concept remains to be assessed.
EV PHENOMENON
Shoulders (Reference 36) developed an experimental program to explore the physics of
microscopic plasma vortices (aka force-free plasmoids), which are thought to be a form
of ball lightning (Reference 37). This study was motivated by the earlier experimental
work of Wells at the Princeton University Plasma Physics Laboratory, Bostick and Nardi
at the Stevens Inst. of Technology, and their collaborators (Reference 38-45).
Shoulders became interested in the possibility of stable, quantized force-free structures
that could be taken apart by some process to yield a net energy gain for power
generation. The foundation for this speculation was Nardi et al.'s (Reference 45)
observation of strange electron concentrations they called vortex filaments that formed
in an electron beam made by plasma focus or relativistic electron beam machines,
which exhibited electron concentrations that appeared to violate the space charge law.
Furthermore, Nardi et al. observed that the vortex filaments were striking exposed
materials (for example, metals, dielectrics, ceramics, glass), boring smooth channels
straight through them, and sometimes exploding with such a large force that they
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created impact craters or holes in the materials. Piestrup et al. (Reference 46)
performed more recent experiments to investigate this unusual phenomenon. This
discovery inspired Shoulders to consider vortex filaments as a potential new source of
energy, and hence he named them electromagnetic vortices or "EVs." However, given
that he could not experimentally verify the vortex nature of the phenomenon, he later
redefined EV to mean Electrum Validum (roughly translated as strong electron).
Bostick and Shoulders began collaborating and realized that EVs were much easier to
generate and observe using micro-arc discharge devices because they are usually
obscured by surrounding plasma in large high-power plasma machines. This led
Shoulders to design a series of low-voltage, low-power micro-arc discharge (or
condensed-charge emission) devices to produce EVs in the lab. Figure 11 shows a
schematic diagram for one embodiment of an EV (pulse discharge source) device. The
EVs are generated at the cathode tip and then follow the path (dashed line above the
dielectric) to the impact site on the ground plane (in the figure, C = capacitor and V =
voltage). The EVs generated by such devices were able to reproduce the material
damage observed in Nardi et al. 's earlier experiments.
-V
Figure 11. Schematic of EV (Pulse Discharge Source) Device (Reference 47)
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Figure 12 shows a scanning electron microscope (SEM) photograph of the damage
inflicted by a single EV burst fired along an alum inum-oxide ceram ic plate. The EV
bored through the ceramic forming a smooth symmetrical channel along its path.
Figure 12. SEM of EV Damage to Ceramic Plate (20 um scale) (Reference 36)
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Figure 13 shows a SEM photo of a single EV shot on a Palladium (Pd) target from a 40
pF capacitor charged to 3,000 Volts (containing 7.5 x 10 11 electrons). At least 100 tiny
craters were formed in the target. The larger craters formed in the Pd target as seen in
the photo suggest a very energetic impact that melted the Pd locally, making a small
hole surrounded by a crater wall.
Figure 13. SEM of EV Damage to Palladium Target (Reference 36)
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Figure 14 shows an example of an EV moving away from its source and shedding
electrons while giving off light as it was decaying .
Figure 14. EV (large blob at bottom) Moving at Downward Angle Away From Its Source (smaller blob
near center of photo) (Reference 36)
Shoulders' experimental studies claim that EVs have physical characteristics
corresponding to the phenomenon observed by Nardi et al. His conclusions were that
EVs are compact spherically shaped balls (diameter"" 1 - 20 µm) of condensed high
density charge ( ~ 10 30 electrons/m 3 ) with an internal electric field > 108 V/m, a charge
to-mass ratio of 1.7588 x 10 11 Coulomb/kg (:::o electron's charge-to-mass ratio), and a
surface current density of 6 x 10 15 Amps/m 2 (Reference 36). Shoulders also reported
that EVs are a source of (copious) X-rays; a single EV discharge gun can produce
multiple EVs in which the coupling between adjacent EVs produces quasi-stable
structures (chains); and EVs respond like an electron under deflection by external fields
of known polarity.
Since electrons would not be expected to bind together due to their mutual Coulomb
repulsion, a speculative model based on the vacuum electromagnetic ZPF was formed
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to explain the existence of EVs. The emerging laboratory evidence led investigators to
consider the hypothesis that the Casimir effect may be a major contributing mechanism
to the formation of EVs in micro-arc discharges. This conjecture is based on models by
Casimir (Reference 48) and Puthoff and Piestrup (Reference 49) suggesting that the
generation of a relatively cold, dense, non-neutral (charged) plasma results in charge
condensation effects that may be attributable to a Casimir-type pinch effect (that is,
ZPF- induced pressure forces) in which the inverse square-law Coulomb repulsion is
overcome by an attractive inverse fourth-law Casimir force to yield a stable
configuration of bound charges at small dimensions. This is a derivative of Casimir's
semi-classical model of the electron in which a dense shell-like distribution of charge
might suppress vacuum fields in the interior of the shell (Reference 48). However,
initial application of Casimir's model found that the vacuum field inside the modeled
electron was found to augment rather than offset the divergent Coulomb field thus
rendering the electron's self-energy divergent. Puthoff (Reference 50) later resolved
this problem by developing a self-consistent vacuum-fluctuation-based model in which
the net contribution to the point-like electron's self-energy by its Coulomb and vacuum
fields vanishes thus rendering a stable finite-mass electron.
Shoulders and collaborators subsequently investigated different approaches to
extracting useful energy from the vacuum ZPF by way of exploiting EV phenomenon.
Even though EVs can be easily produced in the lab, efforts to test this hypothesis have
not met with success due to technical problems. However, this topic is ideal to pursue
for future research.
V. Theoretical Considerations and Issues
QED VACUUM REVISITED
QED Vacuum as a Plenum
Continued theoretical and experimental research has revealed that the vacuum
constitutes an active agent that contributes to a host of phenomena ranging from
microscopic level shifts of atomic states to possible connections to the cause of
cosmological expansion (Reference 14, 51). As more of its attributes are explored, the
vacuum has been found to exhibit phenomena characteristic of an optical medium, such
as induced birefringence in the presence of an applied magnetic field (Reference 52),
and breakdown (decay) in the presence of external electric fields (Reference 53-55).
The current view is that the vacuum has structure, and can be considered much like a
medium of classical physics. However, the vacuum differs significantly from that of a
classical medium due to the existence of quantum fluctuations. A primary attribute of
quantum theory is the concept of matter and field fluctuations, rooted in Heisenberg's
Uncertainty Principle.
In second-quantized QED theory, the theory that applies to the electromagnetic
vacuum, the canonical approach to representing fluctuations of the free vacuum
electromagnetic field is to express t he field distribution in terms of stand ing- or
traveling-wave normal modes. Section I suggested that the large value of the
integrated ZPE density fuels the concept of potentially useful vacuum energy conversion
to other forms, should even some small part of the spectral energy distribution be
accessible for conversion by technological means.
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QED Vacuum as a Mathematical "Placeholder" for Fluctuating Matter
Fields
The treatment of the QED vacuum as a fluctuating plen um with (formally) infinite
energy density has caused some physicists to call into question the viabil ity of the
second-quantized QED formalism . Jaynes, for example, in considering the
consequences for calcu lation of the Lamb shift of the 2s level of the hydrogen atom
under the assumption of a much more modest electron Compton frequency cutoff ( ~
10 21 Hz), calcu lates a fluctuating power flow for the Poynting vector of 6 x 10 20 MW/cm 2
- comparable in every square centimeter t o the total power output of the sun - and
states that "real radiation of that intensity would do a litt le more than just shift the 2s
level by 4 microvolts" (Reference 56). However, despite alternatives to the forma lism of
QED that have been suggested (more on this later), second-quantized QED cannot be
lightly dismissed; and this is so even though the infinities that must be dealt with by
such procedu res as renormalization caused even one of its founders, Paul Dirac, to
remark: "This is just not sensible mathematics. Sensible mathematics involves
neglecting a quantity when it turns out to be small - not neglecting it because it is
infinitely great and you do not want it" (Reference 57).
A second argument that can be raised against using the QED formalism to further
explore vacuum fluctuation physics is that, despite the magnitude of the energy density
potentially associated with vacuum electromagnetic fluctuations, observation of the
cosmological constant-a measure of net vacuum energy density-has a value that is
only on the order of the average energy density of (ordinary + dark) matter in the
universe ~ 10- 9 J/m 3 (Reference 58, 59). Th is leads to what is often referred to as the
120 orders-of-magnitude problem, or "cosmological coincidence." In the mainstream
view, rather than the QED value being discounted, the resolution of this problem is
thought to lie in the domain of infinity (or divergent integral) cancellations, requiring
instead an accounting for the fine-tuning requirements of such cancellations (Reference
60, 61).
Again, the root cause of the difficulties that accompany second quantization of the
vacuum field is that an unbounded plenum possesses an infinite number of degrees of
freedom, each with its assigned ground-state fluctuation energy. In an attempt to
circumvent the difficulties associated with an unbounded, second-quantized plenum,
alternative approaches to QED have been explored in the literature in some detail, a
few of which are discussed in Section V. A number of these alternative viewpoints
interpret the second-quantized QED vacuum with its infinite degrees of freedom as
simply an over-idealized mathematical placeholder for "real" fields that originate in
matter fluctuations whose number of degrees of freedom is necessarily always limited.
Nevertheless, though the alternative formalisms and associated interpretations differ
significantly from the canonical approach, detailed calculations yield results identical to
those generated by the second-quantized field formalism. As a result, even treated as a
mathematical placeholder for matter fluctuation fields, at this point in our discussion
the QED value must be taken seriously. The proposed corollary concerning the
potentially significant conversion of QED vacuum energy to other forms is further
evaluated in the sections that follow.
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CASIMIR EFFECT REVISITED
The most-quoted quintessential configuration for the conversion of vacuum energ y to
other forms of energy is the Casimir effect. As previously discussed, when parallel
conducting plates are placed in a vacuum, they attract one another by a very weak
force that varies inversely as the fourth power of the distance between them. First
computed by Casimir in terms of van der Waa ls forces (a matter-fields approach - see
below), he soon realized that, because the force turns out to be independent of the
molecular details of the conductors, it could be computed as a problem in vacuum
energy, and that is the way it is now generally presented in the literature (the "plenum
approach") (Reference 5, 62).
Casimir Effect in the Plenum Picture
One begins with the free quantum vacuum electromagnetic field fluctuations, and then
determi nes their modification due to the insertion of two parallel plane conductors (that
is, plates) as additional boundary conditions, which constrain a discrete set of intra
cavity modes of integer half-wavelengths. Aside from an unobservable, high-frequency
cutoff-dependent, free-field term that remains from the mathematical regularization
procedure, the resulting (renormalized) vacuum stress-energy tensor9 is given by
(i;:;:) =(n hc /720d )ciiag(-l,l,1,-3), where the angular brackets denote the quantum
2 4
(vacuum state) expectation va lue of the tensor T:,; , d is the plate separation, and
diag(-1,1,1,-3) denotes the diagonal elements of a 4x4 matrix (Reference 1-3, 62). 10
(r:,;1 ) represents the real physical stress carried by the vacuum field fluctuations in the
presence of the parallel plane conductors, and it encodes the Casimir effect in terms of
(1) an interaction energy per unit area, El A=-n2 hc/720d 3 , and (2) a corresponding
force per unit area, FI A = - n 2 hc I 240d 4 • If free to move in response to the attractive
Casimir force, the motion of the plates toward each other is understood in the plenum
approach to progressively eliminate intra-cavity modes, converting their associated
ground -state energies first into kinetic energy, and then, upon collision of the plates,
into heat. Section II described the Casimir-force-driven collapse of Forward's charged
slinky as a Casimir-type configuration for building up an electric field to charge a
battery, and how such processes were shown not to violate either conservation of
energy or thermodynamic constraints.
Casimir Effect in the Fluctuating Matter Fields Picture
Complementary to the vacuum mode description (plenum approach), the Casim ir effect
can be described, like van der Waals attraction, as arising from correlations in the state
of electrons in the two plates through the intermediary of their coupled fields. From this
standpoint (matter-fields approach) there is no requirement for the high energy density
vacuum field of the plenum approach to reside throughout all space.
9 The stress-energy -momentum tensor, T"'v, is a matrix quantity that encodes t he density and flux of a matter
source's energy and momentum. Greek indices denote the matrix components over the spacetime coordinates .
1° For this derivation, the vacuum fluctuations of other quantum fields are essential ly undisturbed by the presence
of the conductors or are affected only in the immediate vicinity of the atomic nuclei that th ey contain.
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Unfortunately with regard to energy generation, though the Casimir forces involved can
be of significance for MEMS applications (Reference 63), the associated Casimir
energies involved are too small to be considered of significance for energy applications,
so if the possibility for vacuum energy conversion exists, one must look elsewhere to
other types of matter-vacuum interactions.
TYPE I (TRANSIENT) AND TYPE II (CONTINUOUS) MACHINES
A key feature of the Casimir process just described, regardless of viewpoint (plenum or
matter-fields), is that it is a "one-shot," transient, energy-producing machine. That is,
after delivering its energy, E, t he matter that comprises the machine is in a "used"
state (this used matter is commonly referred to as "ash") and cannot be restored to the
original state without an input of energy that is greater than or equal to E. This "one
shot" feature can be generalized to define a category of machine called a Type I
transient machine, with the Casimir machine constituting the prototypical
representative. Should gravitation eventually be t raced to a vacuum ZPF origin as
proposed by Sakharov (Reference 64), then the fall of an object of mass m through a
height h in a gravitational field (g = acceleration of gravity at Earth's surface),
delivering its gravitational energy mgh upon impact with the ground, would constitute
another example.
In contrast, one can envision a Type II (continuous) machine in which vacuum ZPF
energy is converted to a useful form on a recycling basis without net alteration to its
own matter state. A hypothetical example is the tunable Casimir device that was
reviewed in Section IV. The cycle of energy generation would consist of the collapse of
conducting plates with delivery of energy, followed by separation of plates switched to
insulating mode for which the attractive force is considerably weaker, only to be
switched back to conducting mode for the next cycle, and so forth. Provided the input
switching energy required per cycle is less than the output energy delivered per cycle, a
continuous generation of energy without a net change in matter configuration would
result. A second example would be a nonlinear oscillator that continuously, on a steady
state basis, down-shifted high-frequency components of the vacuum ZPF spectrum to
lower frequencies for convenient collection and application, without a net change in its
own operation.
Clearly a Type II machine would be far more useful than a Type I machine for energy
extraction . Type II machines would constitute a fuel-less energy source, with the
ambient vacuum ZPF providing essentially unlimited energy. For this to be the case,
however, another requirement needs to be satisfied, wh ich the next section will
address.
DEGRADABILITY OF THE VACUUM
The possibility of continuous conversion of vacuum ZPE to other forms (that is, by a
Type II machine) requires that, in principle, vacuum energy must be degradable (that
is, continuously consumable), not just that there be a surfeit of energy in place to
harvest. This perspective leads to a remarkable question for deeper explorations of
QED. It turns out that the mathematical structure of QED is based on a formalism in
which the vacuum mode structure and vacuum fluctuation energy per mode are
quantized in what could be called a "hard-wired" fashion; that is, they possess fixed
immutable values. Therefore, at the end of a cycle of a hypothetica l Type II machine, in
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which both matter and vacuum mode structure have been returned to their original
states, the vacuum modes must of necessity conta in at a minimum the same, "hard
wired," energetic content as before the cycle. Therefore, assuming local detailed
balance energy conservation, continuous conversion of vacuum ZPE to other forms via
a Type II machine is, from the QED viewpoint, forbidden in principle since the vacuum
as described by the QED formalism is non-degradable. (Globally, vacuum energy is not
conserved during cosmological expansion, with work being done by the negative
vacuum pressure to maintain positive constant vacuum energy density and therefore
increasing the vacuum energy (Reference 65) This outcome of second-quantized QED
theory permits of but two interpretations with regard to continuous vacuum energy
conversion: 1) QED theory, despite criticisms that can be leveled against it, is correct in
its description of vacuum fluctuation dynamics, and even though vacuum ZPE exists, it
cannot be continuously converted to other forms, or 2) the axiomatic inconvertibility is
an artifact of an over-idealized mathematical structure, and therefore the possibility of
conversion remains an open question. 11 What is not in question, however, is that QED,
as an axiomatic, quantum formalism based on the concept of an immutable, non
degradable vacuum, does not support the concept of continuous vacuum energy
conversion.
ALTERNATIVES TO QED
As noted in Section V, despite its successes the second-quantized QED formalism with
its infinite vacuum degrees of freedom and associated infinite energy density has been
the subject of criticism and, as a result, alternatives have been proposed and
investigated in the literature. The alternatives run the gamut from neoclassical theories
in which matter is quantized but the fields are not (for example, the volum inous work of
E. T. Jaynes), through classical theories where both matter and fields are treated
classically, with vacuum fluctuations fields taken to be real but of a classical nature (for
example, SED), to formalisms which eliminate the concept of vacuum fields altogether
(for example, direct-action approaches investigated by A. 0 . Barut and others; see the
references cited below). Each of these will be examined briefly with regard to the
possib ility of useful "vacuum energy conversion."
Neoclassical Theories of QED Vacuum Fluctuation Effects
A major proponent of the neoclassical approach has been E. T. Jaynes, who has
questioned whether the quantized vacuum field is physically real or merely an artifice of
the second -quantized QED formalism. Based on the fact that the QED formalism
permits expression of effects in terms of quantized "self" or "source" fields as an
alternative to expression in terms of quantized vacuum fluctuation fields, Jaynes
advanced the hypothesis that QED effects can be attributed to the self-fields of
quantized matter without considering independent quantization of the vacuum fields,
expressions in terms of the latter just being a placeholder for the former. Pointedly,
with regard to QED being "the jewel of physics because of its extremely accurate
predictions," Jaynes' position is that "those accurate experimental confirmations of QED
come from the local source fields, which are coherent with the local state of matter,"
and that "the quantized free field only tags along (Reference 66)." Jaynes nonetheless
arrived at a conclusion that one might call Jaynes' Axiom, namely, "This complete
11 A number of publications by E. T. Jaynes, A. 0 . Barut and their collaborators are based on the premise that
second quantization is an unnecessary artifact of an over-idealized formalism.
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interchangeability of source-field effects and vacuum-fluctuation effects.. .shows that
source-field effects are the same as if vacuum fluctuations were present." App lied to
the case of a radiating atom, Jaynes provides a specific example of his conclusion with
the statement "The radiating atom is indeed interacting with an electromagnetic field of
the intensity predicted by the zero-point energy, but this is just the atom's own
radiation reaction field (Reference 67)." As a result, with the axiomatic second
quantized field formalism set aside, in the neoclassical approach any consideration of
the conversion of vacuum ZPE for use must be displaced to consideration of the
conversion and degradability of source or matter-fields fluctuation energy for use,
issues yet to be addressed in the literature.
SED Model Revisited
SED is a classical (that is, non-quantized) theory of particle-field interactions that
assumes the existence of classical particles and a classical random background
electromagnetic field distribution whose Lorentz-invariant spectral energy density is
chosen to match that originally appearing in second-quantized QED. Given SED's
heuristic value of classical-like modeling and ease of calculation and its seeming ability
to address many quantum mechanical problems with success (as outlined in Section
III), the SED approach has been employed in the literature to explore vacuum energy
conversion. In the absence of a formalism for vacuum field quantization, there are no
fundamental immutability constraints that would mitigate against vacuum energy
degradability, so that issue is not testable under this formal ism.
Investigations to date have included the use of cavity-QED techn iques to suppress
atom ic or molecular ground states (Reference 28), and evaluation of the use of a
nonlinear oscillator to continuously downshift high-frequency components of the
vacuum fluctuation spectrum to lower frequencies for conven ient collection and use.
With regard to the latter, the result of a nonrelativistic SED analysis is that the
downshifting process acts to convert an initial hypothetical cubic-frequency vacuum
fluctuation spectrum towards a Rayleigh -Jeans rather than a Planck heat spectr um (the
former being a low energy approximation of the latter) (Reference 68, 69). Extension of
the analysis to the relativistic regime does not alter this conclusion (Reference 70, 71).
Though further work remains, these considerations lead one to conclude that SED in its
present form is incomplete, and may not be useful for the assessment of the potential
conversion of vacuum energy to other form s; its pred ictions concerning such must be
treated with caution.
Additional shortcom ings of the SED model include convoluted attempts to derive
interference effects or Schrodinger's equation, and the difficulty in explaining sharply
defined stationary states (that is, sharp atom ic spectra), though there have been many
attempts (Reference 17). QED and SED do not in general yield the same results for
nonlinear systems, although they are in agreement for the range of linear systems
examined. The apparent disagreements between SED and QED are quite serious, and
occur in areas in which QED is highly successful. Perhaps the source of these difficulties
lies in accurately dealing with the nonlinear stochastic differential equations in SED for
these problems. Even still, it is likely that differences will remain, which shou ld clearly
be testable by experimental means (Reference 72). For a very thorough, detailed and
scholarly review of SED, see (Reference 17) and the corresponding review by Cole and
Rueda (Reference 73).
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Given the heuristic value of certain aspects of SED modeling, but with the shortcomings
outlined above noted, SED theorists de la Pena and Cetto have proposed a modification
to SED they call LSED {linear SED) (Reference 74). The modification consists of the
addition of three new constraining principles that result in a form of convergence with
non relativistic quantum mechanics while retaining some of the appealing attributes of
standard SED (for example, quantum states being stable on the basis of a dynamic
balance between absorption and emission of background vacuum fluctuation fields).
The added constraints (for example, an added constraint t hat invokes detailed energy
balance for separate frequencies) result in correcting several known problems with
standard SED. For example, now the equilibrium spectrum is Planck's, not Rayleigh
Jeans, and wavelike behavior of matter and nonlocality issues can be addressed, and so
forth. The issue of continuous vacuum energy conversion has yet to be addressed in
this new formalism, however, so that remai ns for the future.
QED Without Second-Quantized Fields
As yet another alternative to canonical second-quantized QED, Barut (Reference 75)
has proposed that effects attributable to vacuum ZPF can be derived with a theory in
which there are source (matter) fluctuation fields but no vacuum fluctuation fields, and
that even the former can be eliminated. Barut's approach is developed in considerable
detail as an independent, self-consistent, formulation of QED in its own right. Barut
argues that effects normally attributed to vacuum fluctuations in the second-quantized,
linear theory of the radiation field can be equally well computed within the framework
of a non-second-quantized, nonlinear theory which is based entirely on matter wave
functions alone. His program is to assess how far one can go in understanding radiative
processes without second quantization or vacua that fluctuate. Barut and his
collaborators have successfully appl ied the theory to the Lamb shift and spontaneous
emission (Reference 76, 77), problems of cavity QED (Reference 78), Casimir-Polder
and van der Waals forces (Reference 79), calculations of the electron's ge- 2 factor
(Reference 80-82), 12 and the Davies-Unruh effect (Reference 83) among others.
Given that the formalism of second-quantized field operators are not used at all in the
Barut approach, the seemingly quantized properties of fields are taken to simply reflect
first quantization of the sources. Therefore, in the absence of the independent existence
of second-quantized field fluctuations, the QED arguments concerning immutability and
nondegradability of quantized vacuum fluctuation fields, and the corollary proscription
against potential conversion of energy from such fields, do not apply. As in the
neoclassical approach, the question of the conversion of quantum ZPE to other forms
must be diverted to consideration of the global properties of matter fluctuation
interactions in the as-yet-incomplete development of the Barut approach.
EXAMPLES OF DEGRADABLE OF DECAYING VACUUM
In closing, several examples of a degradable vacuum that are predicted by quantum
field theory, quantum field theory in curved spacetime, and the Standard Model of
elementary particle physics will be reviewed. It turns
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