In der Unruhe liegt die Kraft

TL;DR

Quantum fluctuations are fundamental, ubiquitous phenomena responsible for diverse physical effects, including forces between neutral objects, and are crucial for advancing future technologies.

Contribution

The paper highlights the fundamental role of quantum fluctuations across various fields and emphasizes their importance for future technological developments.

Findings

Quantum fluctuations cause forces between neutral objects.

They are essential in phenomena from biology to cosmology.

Understanding them is key for technological innovation.

Abstract

Fluctuations are ubiquitous in nature. They are one of the fundamental building blocks of quantum mechanics and are responsible for a wide variety of phenomena in many areas of physics, ranging from biology to cosmology. Far from any classical intuition, quantum fluctuations are for instance responsible for the appearance of forces between non-magnetic and electrically neutral objects in vacuum, which seem to arise out of nothing. Ever since, quantum fluctuations have fascinated basic research providing new insights into physics and their understanding is becoming increasingly important for various future technologies. -- Fluktuationen sind allgegenw\"{a}rtig. Sie bilden einen fundamentalen Baustein der Quantenmechanik und sind verantwortlich f\"{u}r die unterschiedlichsten Ph\"{a}nomene, angefangen in der Biologie bis hin zur Kosmologie. Fern jeder klassischen Intuition findet man zum Beispiel Kr\"{a}fte zwischen nichtmagnetischen und elektrisch neutralen Objekten. Einzig bedingt durch Quantenfluktuationen entstehen diese Kr\"{a}fte wie aus dem Nichts. Seit jeher begeistern sie die Grundlagenforschung mit neuen Einsichten und gewinnen immer mehr an Bedeutung f\"{u}r verschiedene Zukunftstechnologien.