Paving Through the Vacuum

TL;DR

This paper proposes a model where the vacuum filled with virtual fermion pairs explains photon propagation, naturally deriving vacuum permittivity and permeability, and predicts measurable fluctuations in the speed of light.

Contribution

It introduces a novel effective description of photon propagation based on virtual fermion pairs, linking quantum field theory with vacuum electromagnetic properties.

Findings

Vacuum permittivity and permeability emerge naturally from the model.

Predicted fluctuations in light speed are within experimental reach.

Model aligns with quantum field theory and wave-particle duality.

Abstract

Using the model in which the vacuum is filled with virtual fermion pairs we propose an effective description of photon propagation compatible with the wave-particle duality and the quantum field theory. In this model the origin of the vacuum permittivity and permeability appear naturally in the statistical description of the gas of the virtual pairs. Assuming virtual gas in thermal equilibrium at temperature corresponding to the Higgs field vacuum expectation value, $kT\approx246.22\, \rm{GeV}$, the deduced value of the vacuum magnetic permeability (magnetic constant) appears on the same order of the experimental value. One of the features that makes this model attractive is the expected fluctuation of the speed of light propagation that is at the level of $\sigma\approx 1.9\,\mathrm{as\,m}^{-1/2}$. This non-classical light propagation property is reachable with the available technologies.