The quantum vacuum at the foundations of classical electrodynamics

TL;DR

This paper explores how the classical electromagnetic constants might originate from quantum vacuum properties, linking classical electromagnetism with quantum theory through a dispersion model based on virtual particle pairs.

Contribution

It proposes a novel interpretation of permittivity and permeability as arising from quantum vacuum polarization and magnetization, providing estimates consistent with known values.

Findings

Correct orders of magnitude for permittivity and permeability

Estimate of the number of charged elementary particles

Estimate of the volume of virtual pairs

Abstract

In the classical theory of electromagnetism, the permittivity and the permeability of free space are constants whose magnitudes do not seem to possess any deeper physical meaning. By replacing the free space of classical physics with the quantum notion of the vacuum, we speculate that the values of the aforementioned constants could arise from the polarization and magnetization of virtual pairs in vacuum. A classical dispersion model with parameters determined by quantum and particle physics is employed to estimate their values. We find the correct orders of magnitude. Additionally, our simple assumptions yield an independent estimate for the number of charged elementary particles based on the known values of the permittivity and the permeability, and for the volume of a virtual pair. Such interpretation would provide an intriguing connection between the celebrated theory of classical electromagnetism and the quantum theory in the weak field limit.